Ryan Hass is a senior fellow and the Michael H. Armacost Chair in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, where he holds a joint appointment to the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies.
Asia’s premier security summit, the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, took place after a hiatus (2019-2021) on 10–12 June 2022 in Singapore. It is a unique platform for debate among government ministers and senior officials, business leaders and security experts. In the two days of intensive discussions among nearly 600 delegates from 59 countries, including defense chiefs from the United States, China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, France, Fiji, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members states, a picture emerged of the strategic situation in Asia. It was against this backdrop that the two elephants in the room offered their respective visions for the future of the region. The US and the Chinese representatives commanded center stage for a separate one-hour block, where they each delivered speeches and answered questions from delegates.
America’s Perspective: Secretary Austin’s talk emphasized that the United States view the Indo-Pacific as the strategic center of gravity for American interests in the 21st century. The US is requesting congress for large investments on R&D in new weaponry. He also emphasized the “power of partnerships” to serve as a force multiplier for tackling challenges and to preserve American interests in the region. While he criticized certain Chinese behaviors, he advocated maintaining open channels with Beijing to manage tensions in the region. “Washington will not force countries to choose between the United States and China but to protect each country’s ability to pursue its interests as it defines them”. Austin also went into great lengths to state that the US’s approach to Taiwan is guided by the goal of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
China’s Perspective: Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe’s presentation was more pointed but in a lower tone. Wei stated that American attempts to form exclusive blocs (Quad, AUKUS…) would add instability to the regions. He appealed for the participants to resist American plans to seek to encircle and contain China. Later, one of Wei’s deputies amplified the message by warning that “The United States has already turned the Middle East and Europe into a mess. Does it want to mess up the Asia-Pacific next?” China would “crush” any efforts to promote Taiwan’s independence and that is a red-line. Wei’s speech did not break any new grounds but emphasized that China’s position is resolute. His points seemed to be directed more at the Biden administration.
Ryan Hass shared that “a prominent Singaporean thinker shared this advice for Washington and Beijing. The region will not give its loyalty to the United States or China. Both sides should dial down their insults and angry words. The U.S. should take seriously China’s warnings about its “red-line” concerns. At the same time, China should not underestimate America’s resilience, strength, and appeal.”
Let’s hope that the US and China can find a way to co-exist. All these talks about confrontation are counter productive to world peace and the advancement for all human interests.