Renewed alliances strengthen US approach in Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell says

‘Unprecedented’ alignment with Europe and growing engagement with Asian countries will help remedy past mistakes, says White House’s Indo-Pacific coordinator
Campbell’s remarks come ahead of US-Asean meetings hosted by US President Joe Biden, which start on Thursday

US-China relations

Kinling Loin Washington

Published: 6:26am, 10 May 2022

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The White House’s coordinator for the Indo-Pacific said the United States would fix past mistakes in the region with what he saw as an “unprecedented” alignment with Europe and growing engagement with Asian countries.

Kurt Campbell, in a speech to the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies on Monday, said the administration of US President Joe Biden has seen an “explosion of dialogue and engagement with Europe on the Indo-Pacific” that he expects will eventually overturn limitations faced by previous presidents.

“One of the major challenges, I would say, mistakes that were made, was a sense that we were somehow pivoting away from Europe,” said Campbell, who was a key architect of former president Barack Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” policy.

“There is a deep sense that we are now moving and engaging together not just in Europe, at the time of these enormous challenges in Ukraine, but also thinking constructively about strategy and approaches to the Indo-Pacific going forward.”

He added: “Several administrations in succession in the United States have tried this effort to launch more fundamental efforts, policies, frameworks in Asia, East Asia, Indo-Pacific, and found themselves stymied or misdirected or directed towards other pursuits. And that has been something that I think all of us are deeply aware of in the formulation and execution of policy.”

Campbell’s remarks came ahead of the two-day US-Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) meeting that starts on Thursday, when Biden will play host to his 10 Southeast Asian counterparts. The summit is one of the wider efforts under Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which stresses building alliances, military deterrence and a stronger presence in Southeast Asia to counter China’s growing regional and global footprint.

Campbell also spoke about his trip to the Solomon Islands in late April after it signed a security agreement with China, which leaked reports said might allow the Chinese navy to dock in the islands and Beijing to deploy its police and armed forces there. While Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare denied the reports, Campbell told his Washington audience that he made clear in his visit that the US would have concerns if the islands create potential security risks in the region, but he also said bilateral engagement would be stepped up.

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“We closed our embassy in 1993, and we had a couple of people on the island … We’re going to have many more folks diplomatically for this reintroduction of a lot of our capabilities across the region,” Campbell said. The White House said after his trip that the US would expedite the reopening of its embassy in the Solomons.

Campbell said Russia’s war in Ukraine has been an opportunity for cooperation beyond the US and Europe, and extended to further engaging countries in the Indo-Pacific region, some of which see Ukraine as a “cautionary tale”.

“This is one of those times where we have a rare alignment. And what’s most important is to seize this opportunity, probably the next couple of years, because we do not know how long it will last,” he added.

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Luis Simón, director of Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance, who also spoke at Monday’s event, agreed that EU leaders were more willing to work with Washington on its Indo-Pacific initiatives because of Beijing’s close ties with Moscow.

“Without China’s tacit support, Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and its ability to withstand sanctions over the long term would be probably compromised,” Simón said. “Both Nato and the EU are taking good note of that, and China’s image in Europe is taking a hit as a result of the Ukraine crisis.”

The US and its allies in the EU and the Indo-Pacific are “increasingly recognising … publicly, two great power competitors that are challenging a regional order in Europe, East Asia and also the broader international order”.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn is his country’s Asean envoy. Photo: AP

Both Washington and Beijing will soon hold a series of meetings with counterparts in which regional policies and the war in Ukraine will be at the core of discussions.

Along with hosting the Asean leaders, Biden will visit South Korea and Japan this month and will attend the summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in Tokyo. The G7 leaders’ meeting will take place in late June.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the region to seize the “Asian moment”, and when talking to his Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn on Sunday, ahead of Biden’s Asean gathering, he called for unity among Asian countries. China will host the BRICS summit with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, which is expected to take place next month.