The president was not domestically pressured to focus on ASEAN issues or to quarrel with ASEAN member states on norms. Southeast Asia was simply not important in Trump’s grand scheme of things and would have remained so had he secured a second term.
- Biden and the World – Part 1 Keeping U.S.- China Strategic Competition Under Control
- Biden and the World – Part 2: Opportunities for Africa in a U.S. Diplomatic Reboot
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, however, guarantees neither more U.S. strategic attention on Southeast Asia nor closer ties with ASEAN leaders. China will continue its push to dominate in the region, particularly in the maritime domain, and to undermine the delicate framework ASEAN leaders have stitched together, under a U.S. security umbrella, to offset an overbearing China.
- Biden and the World – Part 3: A Chance for Europe to Pursue Greater Autonomy with U.S. Support
- Biden and the World – Part 4: Biden Can Restore Balance for Democracies
The narrative from the United States is that its emerging China policy is bipartisan. Further, Biden’s personal character is more palatable to his Asian counterparts and he is said both to be more institutionally driven and to have less will to unsettle agreements or long-held relationships with allies and friends in the region.
- Biden and the World – Part 5: The Challenge of National Reconciliation and Multilateralism
- Biden and the World – Part 6: Biden Knows Central Europe and It Knows Him
At the same time, Chinese moves in Southeast Asia, notably in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, are viewed with particular concern given the long-term strategic interests of the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific.
- Biden and the World – Part 7: Japan – USA; Renewing International Cooperation
- Biden and the World – Part 8: Lingering Challenges in the U.S.-ASEAN Strategic Partnership
The uncompromising attitude of the Democratic Party toward what it perceives as authoritarianism and the role of the military in some ASEAN member states will bring some disquiet to the surface in Southeast Asia when a Biden administration is in the White House.
- Biden and the World – Part 9: Furthering the Economic Prosperity and Stability of the Gulf
- Biden and the World – Part 10: Expect a Rebalanced U.S. Middle East Policy
Regardless of who the next U.S. president is, then, the current strategic environment—defined by a more-inward looking America and a more aggressive China—presents significant challenges to advancing a meaningful U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership.
Ong Keng Yong
Executive Deputy Chairman, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (Singapore)
