Should the United States turn its attention to Asia again … impatient China?

The days of US President Joe Biden have come.

Lady Gaga at the inauguration of President Biden [로이터=연합뉴스]

Is it because it has gone through a very difficult and confusing period? All the eyes of the international community are on Biden. China’s nerves will be particularly keen on welcoming the inauguration of the new U.S. president as “a major sanction for the former administration of Trump”.

The United States is also sharp. Biden’s nominated major diplomatic line figures are saying that “China is the biggest homework.” American media and prominent scholars also point to China as the most important diplomatic task that the Biden administration has to deal with.

[사진 셔터스톡]

The problem is that even within the Democratic Party of the United States, opinions on policy toward China are greatly divided. While there are sayings that the Trump administration needs to go harder, some say that the relationship should be smooth.

Nevertheless, the unchanging voice is that the Biden administration is expected to re-enter the Asia-Pacific region.

At the time when President Biden was in the position of Vice President, the Obama administration set up a long-term strategy to keep China in check with the center of its foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region. After Biden was elected, he has repeatedly emphasized the term “a safe and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping [신화=연합뉴스]

As if conscious of this, China has been diligently visiting ASEAN (Southeast Asian Nations) countries since the end of last year. Promised support and requested cooperation. It is worth a glimpse of the sincerity, since I have visited all nine countries except Vietnam, where the new relationship has worsened in recent years.

Is that why? There is a prospect that the US will actively improve relations with the Asian region, but the prediction that it will not be easy is also difficult.

“The unresolved’trade war’ between the US and China could worsen relations with the US and its Asian allies,” warns the US diplomatic journal Foreign Policy (FP). Several of the Asian-Pacific countries have been the targets of former President Trump’s tariff bomb. China has penetrated this gap. It can be seen from the signing of the’Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP)’, the world’s largest free trade agreement in which Korea, China, Japan and 10 ASEAN countries, and Australia and New Zealand participated in last November. It means that it is not easier for the United States to find a’break’.

US President Joe Biden [사진 셔터스톡]

Military tension is also inevitable. As China’s military power grew day by day, the military imbalance between China and Asian countries grew. The United States has more to bear.

FP analyzes that “above all, whatever choices Biden makes and what policies he implements, its influence has been so strong that there is no way to stop China’s pressure on ASEAN countries.” It is also largely because the Trump administration has lowered trust in the US government in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN [사진 셔터스톡]

Low-developed countries such as Laos and Cambodia don’t have much of a choice, especially. “Even in India, which has a lot of friction with China, there are voices of warning about getting too close to Washington from the inside and arousing China’s anger,” said FP.

Experts stress that the Biden government should not force the situation to choose between China and the United States in order to devise a smart Asia-Pacific strategy. “Supporting” Asia and “forcing” a one-sided solution in Washington means a completely different problem.

The world and Asia are paying attention to how the United States and China will build new relationships.

Reporter Lim Ju-ri [email protected]