US-Led ‘Great Power Rivalry’ Causing Instability in Asia

By N. GUNASEKARAN

The defense and foreign policies of the President Donald Trump have been instigating instability in Asia. Referring to his imposition of sanctions on Iran, in an early-morning tweet in August 2018, Trump said “I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!” But, his policies including the blind imposition of sanctions on some nations are leading to the destabilization of peace in Asia.

The US security and defense strategy poses greater danger to world peace. The US government published two documents, the National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Defense Strategy (NDS), in December 2017 and January 2018, respectively. Speaking at the launch of the 2018 NDS at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis revealed the main thrust of the document: “Great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of US national security.”

The US wanted to restore its old status of unchallenged domination of the world, which it acquired after the fall of the Soviet Union. The current US perception of China and Russia as emerging rivals who have been challenging US domination is leading to the so-called great power rivalry. To counter the ‘rivals’ and reestablish its domination, the US planned for a program of crash rearmament, utilizing its economic resources.

The National Defense Strategy states, “It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model — gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions.” So, policy elites in the US believe the best way to protect US interests was through the increased US military presence in Europe and Asia. The Indo-Pacific strategy of the Trump administration has also confirmed that the US is more aggressive to dominate in the Asian affairs.

Both the NDS and the NSS clearly showed the US would follow the confrontational approach towards China and Russia, and pursue the dreadful strategic operations in Asia. The US presence in Afghanistan entered its 17th year in 2018 and operations against the “rogue regime” adversaries, such as Iran, North Korea and Syria, are still continuing.

Intensified great power rivalry will have a negative impact on the economies of the countries in Asia. Rivalry between the three major military powers — the US, China and Russia — along with the trade tensions created by Trump’s “trade wars’” have been instigating serious political, economic and social instability in the Asian region. Now, the Asian states have to do more military spending to toe the strategic line of their masters, either the US or another great power. The growing military-spending in the region will obviously divert the attention of the Asian states from the tasks related to the uplifting of the poor. So, the ongoing “great power rivalry” would further marginalize the huge population of Asians who are living with the persisting problems of poverty and economic deprivation.

US policies would naturally instigate the arms race in the Asian region. The growing defense budgets of the Asian countries have created a lucrative arms market in Asia. American producers of arms and defense-related technologies would further their profits in the coming days. As a result of such “military modernization programs,” the Asian economies would be further strained. So, to serve the needs of the US military-industrial complex, the reshaping of Asian economies are going on, with massive cuts on spending for the peoples’ welfare programs. And this would seriously affect the livelihood of 1.2 billion people in the Asia-Pacific region living in poverty, of which 400 million are in extreme poverty. They are in dire need of services like clean water, sanitation, electricity, education, health care, etc.

The firm intervention of the states in the social protection sectors has the greatest poverty reduction potential, and would particularly benefit the most vulnerable. More and more military spending would deprive even the existing, bare minimum, social protection, that is available for the poor. Since 60% of Asia’s population is exposed to sickness, disability, unemployment or old age, the governments in Asia have to invest more on the social protection measures. At present, the region spends much less than the global average on social protection sectors like health care and education. The United Nations, in its recent report (Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific) indicated that additional investment of some $281 billion a year is needed to close the gap as a share of GDP in these sectors.

Therefore, the increased investment in the social sector is the main agenda before the Asian nations. But President Trump’s volatile foreign policy and rejection of trade agreements is forcing the Asian nations to shift their priorities, divert their attention to seek military alliances and more avenues for militarism, in the name of “security.”

The Pentagon’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review committed to modernizing its air-delivered tactical bombs and developing low-yield nuclear warheads for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. So, across the globe and in the Asian region, the intensified nuclear arms race is also imminent and the “great power rivalry” would acquire dangerous dimensions in the coming years.

The growing protest movements of workers and peasants in many Asian countries may stop the oppressive domination of the US and the policies of militarism pursued in the name of “great power rivalry.”

N. Gunasekaran is a political activist and writer based in Chennai, India.

From The Progressive Populist, December 15, 2018

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