America’s Pivot to Asia Is Finally Happening
Diplomatically, economically and militarily, the US is taking competition with China seriously.
A military drill at Hualien Air Force base, Taiwan.
Photographer: SAM YEH/AFPIt’s only February, but it has already been a big year for America’s policy toward China and the Indo-Pacific. No, I’m not talking about Balloongate. In recent weeks, President Joe Biden’s administration has made real progress in two areas: Creating a workable defense strategy in the Western Pacific, and waging the technological cold war with Beijing. In both cases, “competition” is becoming a reality, rather than just a buzzword — and in both cases, serious challenges remain.
US strategy in Asia has long been plagued by a stubborn problem: geography. The Western Pacific is far away, and America has only a few significant air and naval bases there. So if China attacked Taiwan, it would need to cripple just a few bases, especially those on Okinawa and Guam, to knock the US out of the fight.