The West appears as a political risk for Asian allies. Report Ft
This is why the West's current social, political and economic turmoil is damaging our credibility in Asia and our ability to achieve strategic goals in the region.
"Political risk" is traditionally the lens through which Western governments and businesses analyze the outside world. This framing has spawned a lucrative global industry that can cast shadows as well as light, writes the Financial Times .
Since returning to a political turmoil in the UK two months ago after 14 years in Asia, I have been struck by the fact that many Asian governments and companies look at us through this same lens. In conversations with senior Asian officials, they continue to raise a general concern: Can we count on the UK, Europe and the US to stay engaged when they face so many problems at home?
From the turmoil of Boris Johnson's government to fears of a return of Trumpism, from the continued strength of the far right in France to the seething tensions within the EU, politics in the West appears unstable and unpredictable.
In Tokyo, Seoul, Jakarta and New Delhi, many are hoping that the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union will increase their diplomatic, economic and security engagement in the region, to give them more options and help counter an ever-present Beijing. more powerful and assertive.
But growing political risks across the Western world undermine our governments' grand strategic plans to play a greater role in the Indo-Pacific and pursue broad-spectrum competition with China. Many of our Asian friends doubt our commitment, our willingness to use limited resources and our resilience, in stark contrast to China's enduring presence in the north.
It's not just about how long Johnson or Biden will stay in office. It's about understanding what Asia's real priority is and how much of their precious political and financial capital they are willing to spend on the region when faced with severe pressure on the cost of living at home, strained state budgets and a war in Europe.
Much of the long-term work of building diplomatic and military relations should fall on civil service and military professionals. However, their ability to play this sustainable and non-partisan role is limited by political pressures and the broader financial squeeze.
Take Biden's Build Back Better World Plan, launched last year to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative. It fared little better than its stalled namesake, the Build Back Better Bill. US officials dealing with the Indo-Pacific have criticized the administration's inability to come up with a better economic offer for the region.
The UK's inclination towards the Indo-Pacific, announced last year as part of the Integrated Foreign and Security Policy Review, has also been hampered by political realities. The renewed focus on the world's most dynamic region looks good on paper. But, even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development was struggling to organize after the politically motivated takeover of the Department of International Development in 2020. The war in Ukraine has further diverted resources and attention.
Britain should work more closely with its European partners in the Indo-Pacific, notably France and Germany. However, the Johnson government's hard line on post-Brexit negotiations makes this incredibly difficult in practice. While Western officials and analysts often shake their heads at Japan and South Korea's inability to overcome their historical differences, diplomats in Seoul and Tokyo view fragile Franco-British relations with the same dismay.
With our policy likely to remain evolving and with our Asian partners wary of our ability to deliver, we need to take a more critical look at our core capabilities and interests. Where can the allies of the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have the greatest impact with the least amount of resources? Where can we effectively cooperate with each other despite our differences?
We also need to think more carefully about our comparative advantages in competing with China, rather than obsessing over every single thing Beijing does. We should leverage our strengths in finance, education, media and soft power, rather than trying to mimic China's efforts in building infrastructure.
Democracy will always generate some degree of internal turbulence. But the extent of our current social, political and economic turmoil is damaging our credibility in Asia and our ability to achieve our strategic goals in the region.
(Extract from the foreign press review by eprcomunicazione )
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/loccidente-appare-come-un-rischio-politico-per-gli-alleati-asiatici-report-ft/ on Sat, 09 Jul 2022 06:16:02 +0000.