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Asian Angle | Can the new US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework really compete with China’s mammoth Belt and Road Initiative?
- The IPEF, whose members account for 40 per cent of global GDP, is aimed at complementing defence strategies to counter China’s growing influence
- But Beijing has already spent a fortune on projects in dozens of countries, while upcoming US elections may mean less enthusiasm for Biden’s new agreement
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At long last, US President Joe Biden’s administration has unveiled what has been widely touted as the “meat to the bones” of its Indo-Pacific strategy.
But as we move on from the pomp and pageantry of the American commander-in-chief’s maiden Asia visit, one cannot help but wonder if what was unveiled can endure and compete with China’s gargantuan and nine-year-old Belt and Road Initiative.
On May 23 in Tokyo – the second stop of his two-nation Asia tour – Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), its members jointly accounting for around 40 per cent of global GDP.
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The IPEF addresses the absence of an economic sandbag to complement America’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which has long leaned heavily on defence.
The ease with which the United States was able to get a dozen diverse nations, more than half of them from Southeast Asia, to join the new undertaking attests to the region’s desire to see Washington stay engaged beyond security.
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Three days after the framework was announced, Fiji became the first Pacific nation to join the pact. Others may follow suit.
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