A Bolder Agenda for President Biden’s Asian Diplomacy

November 24, 2022 Topic: Asia Region: Asia Tags: Joe BidenAsiaChinaIndonesiaG20Great Power Competition

A Bolder Agenda for President Biden’s Asian Diplomacy

While President Joe Biden deserves some credit for paying attention to Southeast Asia, downplaying the trade and economic diplomacy angle and not having a more ambitious agenda was a missed opportunity.

This Pacific Charter, and a clear message on the South China Sea, will put China on its heels as we build a consensus regarding freedom of navigation on the seas. Indonesia and the Philippines are often-overlooked U.S. partners in Asia and both deserve more attention. 

Finally, South of China and East of India—the expansive, high-growth, and strategically important ASEAN region of 650 million optimistic, youthful, tech-savvy consumers offers a wealth of entrepreneurial talent and an abundance of commercial opportunities. 

The United States is the only major country within the Pacific Rim not to have a strategic economic pact with ASEAN. Six of these markets: Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia, represent a combined number of consumers roughly equal to the size of North America.

While President Biden deserves some credit for paying attention to Southeast Asia, downplaying the trade and economic diplomacy angle and not having a more ambitious agenda was a missed opportunity.

Carl Delfeld is a senior fellow at the Hay Seward Center for Economic Security, was a former U.S. Representative to the Asian Development Bank, and is the publisher of the Independent Republican. His latest book is Power Rivals: America and China’s Superpower Struggle.

Image: Reuters.