By Ely Ratner
For the U.S. to sustain its presence in the Asia-Pacific, it will have to take local politics into account.
Political dysfunction in Washington is posing serious challenges to President Barack Obama’s goal of rebalancing U.S. attention and resources to Asia. The president’s cancelation of a much-anticipated trip to Southeast Asia in October – necessary because of the federal government shutdown – was widely regarded as a diplomatic victory for China. Weeks later, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, warned that current defense cuts, if maintained, would “largely negate the ship force structure portion of our plan to rebalance to the Asia Pacific region.”
Ergo the growing chorus among foreign policy specialists that sustaining the foundations of American global power will require Washington to get its own house in order.
This is no doubt true, but resolving partisan battles on Capitol Hill is only half the battle. Washington will also have to be attuned to domestic politics on the other side of the Pacific to successfully execute and implement the U.S. pivot to Asia. This is particularly the case in the military domain, where the United States is pursuing a more geographically distributed force posture that is less reliant on major operating bases in Northeast Asia.
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