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US needs to step up its game in Southeast Asia, says senior official
- Biden administration is aware of the balancing act it faces strengthening ties with Taiwan without emboldening independence forces in Taipei, says Kurt Campbell
- Cooperation between Washington and Beijing will be limited and increasingly competitive, he adds
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Mark Magnierin New York
The US has been “missing in action” in Asia and needs to step up its game especially in Southeast Asia to show Chinese hardliners that the world’s largest economic and military power is not in free fall, a senior US official said on Tuesday.
“Ideologues around Xi Jinping think the US is hurtling toward decline,” said Kurt Campbell, the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, speaking to the Asia Society.
“Rumours of our decline are greatly exaggerated. [We] have the wherewithal, the will and the determination to continue to play a leading role in the global community, but particularly in the Indo-Pacific.”
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The long-time public servant, who left a consulting job to rejoin government in January, said the US has weathered tough periods before and re-emerged stronger, including the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the 1980s economic showdown with Japan.
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Campbell, a veteran of various national security and trade jobs, said the current environment resembles early Cold War days given current American hand-wringing, self-doubt and exaggeration of its adversary’s capabilities.
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