On Friday, Politico reported that new National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan restructured the National Security Council to prioritize countering China in the Indo-Pacific. To do this, Sullivan downsized the team devoted to the Middle East and added more positions that deal with Asia.
In what became known as the “Asia pivot,” the Obama administration attempted to prioritize Asia but decided to intervene more in the Middle East and got bogged down there. Under Obama, the NSC’s Middle East directorate was much bigger than the Asia department.
Current and former US officials that Politico cited in the report said the new administration “wants to avoid another quagmire in the Middle East” so they can keep the focus on Asia.
Overseeing Indo-Pacific affairs on the NSC is Kurt Campbell, who is known as the architect of Obama’s Asia pivot. As the State Department’s top Asia diplomat from 2009 to 2013, Campbell made frequent visits to allies in the Pacific.
The focus on Asia lines up with the Trump administration’s 2018 National Defense Strategy that outlined a shift away from counterterrorism in the Middle East towards so-called “great power competition” with Russia and China. The Trump administration accelerated US military activity near China’s coast, and it seems to be continuing right along under Biden.
Speaking at an event on Friday, Sullivan said the US must be “prepare to act” and “impose costs” on China over issues in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang.
The focus on China is not limited to Sullivan and the NSC. During Senate confirmation hearings, Biden’s cabinet members and nominees all had tough words for Beijing and made it clear countering China is a top priority for the new administration.
Some Republican China hawks were concerned that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin did not have enough experience in Asia and wouldn’t be sufficiently hawkish on Beijing. To placate the hawks, Biden appointed Ely Ratner to advise Austin.
Ratner is a China hawk who worked at the interventionist Center for a New American Security think tank. In September 2020, Ratner co-authored an op-ed titled “Trump Has Been Weak on China, and Americans Have Paid the Price.”
China isn’t in the INDO-Pacific. They’re in Asia.
The US Pacific Combatant Command appended “Indo” to reflect an expected inclusion of India in the US-concocted “Quad” — US, Japan, Australia and India — which never materialized. India is not a natural joiner, Japan is constitutionally limited, and Australia is a joke. Now Sullivan has said he wants to expand the Quad (which doesn’t exist). Are these guys stupid or what? They’re amusing, that’s what.
Right – they want to expand the Empire’s reach by expanding the terminology. What’s next? China referring the to the Pacific as the AMERICO/PACIFIC theater?
They need to distract China from her economic mission. She is taking over the world. And since the Oligarchs won’t allow any structural change, the only way the US can compete is asymmetrically with military.
by design. the IMF has designated china the new power.
Sullivan’s messing with China’s internal affairs (Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang) would be a major mistake. China has endured a century of humiliation, including occupation by western imperialists, and they won’t stand for Sullivan’s boyish cost impositions especially since China is on a roll in economic and military matters.
Waiting for a “US pivot” and the prioritization of actual American needs.
right then. for a good year now we have been reading all about how “china joe” biden is a secret china-man communist in disguise, yet the reality is that the biden appointed National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is an advocate of aggression towards china.
Hmmm
Make no mistake, China might be coming out of his mouth, but Biden’s actions on day one began with the start of his promised “resurge” back into Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The old saw about ignoring what he says and watch what actually happens has never been more true than with old Joey…
In point of fact, everything happening right now in the Far East is a direct result of orders issued by President Trump over the course of his administration. No doubt if it goes well, Biden will steal the credit. But if it goes badly, and with equal surity, Biden and the Democrats will claim it was Trump’s fault.
The heavy lifting (10+ Trillion, Million of lives lost, 10’s of Millions of refugees etc., ) in the Middle East by the US is now essentially complete. Every Muslim Country which presented any impediment to the illegal theft of Palestine, Jerusalem and the Golan have all been bombed, invaded, key military and civilian infrastructure destroyed, military neutralized and the standard of living reduced to the 4th world… For the most part, government leadership toppled and replaced with the exception of Syria. Iran is now, and has always been a red herring in my opinion. Just as “China” is just a convenient distraction to refocus attention away from the fact that for literally 2 decades US foreign Policy has been focused almost entirely on serving israel’s lust for empire.
Bottom line: after more than 1/2 a century of completely illegal occupation, terrorization and annexation the entirety of the State of Palestine, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights israel now insists belongs to them . Formal recognition of Jerusalem as israel’s new capital and tacit recognition of both the annexation of Palestine and the Golan by the US is also in the bag. President Trump has fulfilled his marching orders from NutenYahoo via Kushner, but was still kicked out because he refused to risk world war III by attacking Iran for no good reason. Just like Bush Sr. when he refused to level Bagdad at the end of Gulf War I because there were no soldiers, only civilians in left in the City.
The last thing israel/US wants or needs right now is more scrutiny of all the horrors and atrocities they have committed in the name of israel’s “zionist empire”. Thus truth remains the only remaining adversary of NutenYahoo’s terrorist regime that his self-proclaimed iron fisted control of Washington cannot defeat…
Amen.
always the new boogeyman must b presented. smh.
re: Kurt Campbell, the State Department’s top Asia diplomat from 2009 to 2013
What kicked off the whole island thing in the SCS was IMO the Japan purchase of the Senkakus in the ECS in 2012, followed by a US promise to defend them for Japan. This event caused China to take a forceful stand on islands.
Campbell tried a diplomatic process and was rebuffed. . . .from SCMP:
Of course China will do the same thing. They are not a helpless small target like North Korea or Venezuela.
If the US starts that fight to impose costs, it had best be prepared to win that fight. US primacy is no longer assured, and even less so in economics than in military forces deployed.