Daily Times

The US seems to have revisited its strategic priorities in relation to Asia. Pakistan’s new narrative of ‘no more’ or ‘let the world do more’ in reaction to US ‘do more policy’, whether of big stick or carrot and stick, the unalterable approaches of Republicans or Democrats in their foreign policies in the face of circumstances at a given time or in a given country, is not the lonely reason for such an abrupt change in US foreign policy towards Asia in general and South Asia in particular. Every country must, as a general rule of the game at world stage, formulate the foreign policy in line with its ‘national interests’. As regards US, it is well known in this regard. It always enacts policy which its own national interests dictate. The moorings of this changed policy are anchored somewhere else. The same need to be discovered from circumstantial evidence. Russia is trying to wriggle out of shackles of ‘fall of Soviet Union’ era. China is going to emerge as another power in this volatile region, a region housed by as many as five nuclear powers: China, Japan, Russia, India and Pakistan. Regionalism seems to be replacing the doctrine of unipolar world. China is going to catch world market in terms of international political economy. US, it appears from its recent postures on the international political chessboard, seems to have taken these events as serious challenges to its hegemony. US names such hegemony as a basis for its prosperity and security and it accordingly coins the expression ‘severe threats to its prosperity and security’.

A bare look at two very recent US documents, viz, 2019 Budget Proposals; and Pentagon’s 2018 Report to the Congress on China unveils the mystery that it is the United States which has not liked Pakistan’s ever-increasing close ties with China as regards ongoing progress on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). US is taking this regional progress as if Islamabad is gradually distancing itself from Washington. 2019 US Budget Proposals specifically pin point China and Russia as ‘central threat to US prosperity and security’. These proposals highlight the US strategy to meet this challenge.

US national security strategists opine that China and Russia are emerging as new economic powers on the chest of globe

US Defense Department, in its reports, has apprised the Congress of its concerns about the China’s aims to set up additional military bases in countries with which it has deep friendly ties and/or with which it shares certain strategic interests, like Pakistan where US finds an evidence of hosting foreign militaries. US media, while highlighting Wall Street Journal, has reported that Washington has got serious concerns over China’s one belt, one road initiative. Washington has shown grave concern over new diplomatic, strategies and military tactics of China under the garb of ‘debt trap diplomacy’ as it is lending huge money to various countries for projects, the expenditure of which such recipient countries cannot afford and China is allegedly doing it with a view to gaining global influence too. Though Washington has given it too much hype in its state media, yet Beijing has declared it as US false propaganda.

2019 US Budget Proposals clearly indicate that re-emergence of long-term strategic competition of China and Russia is a great threat to prosperity and security of United States, as Washington looks upon it as a new model of these two revisionists, China and Russia to be a would be singular opposing force against US policies. Chance of China and Russia to become a joint force to reverse new world order is not seemingly far off. US apprehends that the revisionism is in the offing and it needs to be pre-empted before it turns out to be an unchallengeable reality.

US national security strategists opine that China and Russia are emerging as new economic powers on the chest of globe. Both have a common authoritarian economic model, which they have purposefully devised for shaping the entire world consistent with their views and economic policies so that they may gain veto power over diplomatic, economic and security decisions of other nations. To offset the effects of China and Russia’s rapprochement, US State Department and the present regime under President Trump are endeavouring to launch an offensive with the aid of all its allies and partners for giving tough time to these two emerging powers and their friends like Pakistan in all respects and at all fronts. The new alliance of US and its allies and partners aims to keep US influence intact in this region and to create an environment conducive to maintaining the status quo, i.e., balance of power with an eye to protect the free and open international order.

US seems to have set certain priorities through making enormous investment in military sector especially capability of air force to compete against China and Russia as it considers that Chinese and Russians’ potentialities in military science have corrosive impact on its military edge over China and Russia. US National Defence Strategy is now aimed at seeking an outright reversal of such corrosive and lethal capabilities of China and Russia. The Congress has been informed that proposals in 2019 US Budget are quite compatible with the objectives set by Pentagon in relation to building dynamic defence forces in collaboration with all its allies and partners to plug the threats to its security. These US documents go a long way to suggest that Pentagon seems to have decided to lend full countenance to the demands thus put forth for being included in 2019 Budgetary Provisions so that US is immediately able to have an able, dynamic, ready and resilient defence force to operate globally against all such odds.

The writer is an Islamabad-based lawyer and partner at UMR Practice

Published in Daily Times, March 17^th 2019.