By Harry Kazianis
It’s not that the U.S. lacks a China strategy, it’s just that few understand or like the plan.
A hot topic these days in D.C. is the quest for what is quickly becoming the foreign policy holy grail — a U.S. foreign policy strategy towards the People’s Republic of China. The quest in many respects makes sense. After the declaration of a “pivot” to Asia, many in America’s foreign policy community expected a major push by the Obama Administration to clearly define some sort of strategy towards Beijing incorporating a number of broad areas of importance — defense, economic, and cultural interactions. Considering China’s growing power on the world stage, having some defined set of principles to guide such interactions seems quite rational.
Unfortunately, Asia hands were quickly disappointed. The pivot, so boldly declared in 2011, would be spun into a “rebalance” as various pundits complained it was too focused on the defensive dynamics of the U.S.-China relationship. Sprinkle in problems in the Middle East thanks to Egypt, Syria and Iran and it is now clear many believe the pivot to Asia is all but dead.
I have a different take. Pivot or no pivot, America does have a China strategy — it’s just no one really likes it and few understand it, causing it to get lost among all the chatter and endless analysis.
Read the full story at The Diplomat