The U.S. Military and China

The U.S. Military Significance in the Indo-Pacific Region
Introduction
The free and open Indo-Pacific strategy (FOIP) of the U.S. military has both positive and negative impacts in the Indo-Pacific region. Primarily a military instrument through which the U.S. can form alliances to assist in responding to China’s enhancement of the country’s own military presence, FOIP has been promoted by Secretary of Defense Mattis as an opportunity “to strengthen a fraying U.S.-led rules-based international order under threat from regional power shifts, revisionist powers, and rogue regimes” (Parameswaran, 2018). From China’s perspective, the U.S. is attempting to insert itself into a regional—i.e., domestic matter—that is none of its business. The U.S., on the other hand, views any attempt by China to extend its boundaries and enhance its own geostrategic position in the East as a matter of national security. Nonetheless, the U.S. paints FOIP in rather more “positive” terms while simultaneously waging economic warfare against China by way of sanctions (for engaging in arms deals with Russia) and trade war. Sen. Perdue stated, “When we’re up against ‘China, Inc.’ who thinks in terms of millennia, we cannot limit ourselves to thinking in fiscal quarters, or four- to eight-year administrations….We need a plan for the long haul to ensure that our nation maintains its leadership and strategic role in the Indo-Pacific region that covers defense, diplomacy and economics” (Rogin, 2018). Undoubtedly there are potentially positive, negative, and strategic impacts of the American military’s presence in the Indo-Pacific region. This paper will show how the U.S. uses its military instrument as a presence in the Indo-Pacific region to achieve its own strategic objectives.
Positive Impacts
The positive strategic achievements the United States military instrument receives when providing presence in the Indo-Pacific Region is the ability to develop relationships with other countries such as India and the Philippines—allies that it can use to maintain control of sea lanes in the East and a kind of NATO of the South Seas to guard against Chinese expansion, just as NATO in the West guards against Russian expansion of late. To this end, Japan, India, Australia and the U.S.—all of whom can be viewed as rivals of China—have banded together to “recharacterize the Asia-Pacific as the Indo-Pacific” (Stratfor, 2017). Thus, the main positive strategic achievement of the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific is the opportunity to redefine the region in terms that shift the balance of power away from the Chinese, who seek to develop the South China Sea islands, back towards the U.S. and its new allies in the region. By referring to the Asia-Pacific as the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. adopts a more inclusive posture towards India and brings the East that much closer to the West, making America’s military presence there somewhat more acceptable.
The positive strategy allows the U.S. and its allies to united the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and view it all as one big “single security space” (Stratfor, 2017) with U.S. military overseeing the sprawling waterways and islands throughout. While China preps for its 64-nation Belt and Road Initiative and works with Russia to create a multipolar world, the U.S. military instrument in the Indo-Pacific puts pressure on the Belt and Road Initiative. The military instrument fosters “a geopolitical competition between free and repressive visions of world order” (Ayres, 2018), as the U.S. puts it. It is essentially a military containment of China and the presence of the military can help to win more alliances to the U.S.
Negative Impacts
Negative strategic impacts the United States military instrument receives when providing presence in the Indo-Pacific Region include the risk of a hot war between China and the U.S. growing. China has made no secret of the fact that it resents the U.S. military’s presumption that it has a right to interfere or condemn China’s expansion into the disputed South China Seas. The shifting away from recognizing the region as the Asian-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific can be seen by China as an attempt to marginalize the world’s most populated country.
The strategy could also induce states currently on the fence about allying with the U.S. to move away from the American military and either express independence or side with China should a fray begin. As McDonald (2018) notes, “in order to succeed, the FOIP must convince regional leaders that the United States is building a new regional order worth signing up for”—yet, the U.S. has not been able to do more than bark. Implementing the kind of order envisioned by the U.S. would inevitably lead to conflict with China and would drag into the fight numerous other states. Were the Indo-Pacific to become a theater of war, it would devastate economies throughout the region. Many leaders therefore, no doubt anticipating such a conclusion, are reluctant to bring it about by siding with the U.S. against China.
Responding to China’s Buildup
No matter what individual nation-states in the region decide to do, the U.S. military is currently undeterred in addressing China’s buildup of the seven islands in the South China Seas. The U.S. military is using its instrument to counter China’s enhancement of its presence in the region. As China seeks to develop its geostrategic position along the seven islands, the U.S. is compelled to act, not wanting to allow China to lay claim to more power throughout the region.
Underlying China’s initiative is, of course, the Belt and Road Initiative, which is meant to connect dozens upon dozens of countries throughout the world. Should it become a success and a New Silk Road open up, it would put China right at the heart of global trade. This would help to bring about the multi-polar world envisioned by China and Russia, which the U.S. is essentially opposed to as it would undermine its influence throughout the world.
The U.S. military is thus a strategic instrument that is being used in response to China’s buildup of the seven islands. The military serves as a forceful reminder that in order for China to achieve its ambitious aims it will have to go through the U.S. military first. The U.S. military is a strategic reminder that any step by China that offends a neighbor who also happens to be an ally of the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region could be the catalyst the U.S. requires to launch a full-scale attack on China.
The U.S. military instrument in the region is not meant to be viewed as a provocation or threat to the China but rather as a response—a reaction to the troubling enhancement and buildup of China’s own military. Were the U.S. to make no reaction it would send a message to the rest of the world that the leading world power is no longer a force to reckon with.
The Future
Future United States military instrument initiatives to increase the American presence in the Indo-Pacific Region will emerge as FOIP is really just the beginning of an all-out buildup by the U.S. and its geostrategic partners in the region. McDonald (2018) notes that “the issues around which interest-based multilateral coalitions can be built span the components of national power, but they need not be comprehensive in execution.” At stake is control of the trade route—and the U.S. military is there to ensure that the U.S. does not become an outsider looking in. China’s buildup is an attempt to put distance between the U.S. and the Belt envisioned by China. The disputed islands are a demonstration by China that it has both the will and the capabilities needed to deliver a military strike to its opponents should they choose to interfere with China’s own strategic objectives.
The U.S. military instrument has numerous other military instruments that it can employ in the region to counter the Chinese ambition. The U.S. is on record for labeling China an economic predator and a strategic competitor. Should China submit to playing by the rules determined by the U.S. and enforced by its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, the rhetoric used by the U.S. would likely change and its military presence in the region would take a less aggressive nature.
Conclusion
The U.S. military strategy in the Indo-Pacific is evident in the reshaping of the region in terms that dwindle the Chinese aspect of the region and include the India Ocean. It is an effort to undermine the growing power of China not only in the South China Sea but also throughout the world, where the Belt and Road Initiative is currently underway. The strategic objective of the U.S. is to block China from dominating the global economy and diminishing the U.S.’s power in the unipolar world essentially overseen by the U.S. and its social, political and economic influences throughout the globe.
References
Ayres, A. (2018). The U.S.-Indo Pacific strategy needs more Indian Ocean. Retrieved
from https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/us-indo-pacific-strategy-needs-more-indian-ocean
McDonald, S. (2018). Wanted: A strategy for the Indo-Pacific region. Retrieved from
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/wanted-strategy-indo-pacific-region-28182?page=0%2C1
Parameswaran, P. (2018). Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy challenge in the spotlight.
Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/2018/06/trumps-indo-pacific-strategy-challenge-in-the-spotlight-at-2018-shangri-la-dialogue/
Rogin, J. (2018). Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy: Where’s the beef? Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2018/06/06/trumps-indo-pacific-strategy-wheres-the-beef/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.863e1e10d6c1
Stratfor. (2017). The Indo-Pacific: Defining a region. Retrieved from
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/indo-pacific-defining-region