WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Obama administration’s Pacific rebalance effort\u00a0\u2014\u00a0also known as the Pivot to the Pacific\u00a0\u2014\u00a0effort is officially dead, according to a top State Department official.
“We\u2019re going to remain engaged and active in Asia. The Asian economy is very important for US prosperity and growth, so we will be there working on fair trade and free trade issues, working on regional security challenges such as North Korea, and continue to press for a rules-based and constructive, peaceful and stable order in Asia,” Thornton said. “Whether there will be a bumper sticker to put on that, it\u2019s still early days, so it\u2019s early to say.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy, says it is too early to judge the new administration\u2019s relationship to the Pacific countries. But he warned there is uncertainty thanks to the “policy vacuum” that emanates from the lightly-staffed Trump team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Thornton\u2019s wider comments included the kind of references to sustained US engagement, preservation of the rules-based order and free trade that allies should welcome,” Graham wrote in an email comment. “Yet until the US does more to fill the policy void, including the physical absence of under-secretaries across the board at DoD and State, skepticism is inevitable about how far the inner core around President Trump are willing to buy into those as US interests.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of publication, the Trump administration has yet to nominate anyone to fill the Asia-Pacific policy jobs at either State or the Pentagon, although it has nominated Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as its ambassador to China. Branstad has yet to have a hearing on his nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Skepticism about the Trump plan in the Pacific is fueled, in part, by moves away from Obama-era regional decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most obvious is the decision to back away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that was heavily backed by President Obama and then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
America\u2019s participation in the TPP was also backed by Asian allies, such as Singaporean defense minister Ng Eng Hen, who in December lamented Trump\u2019s decision to abandon the deal, saying that the agreement “would have been a concrete, tangible commitment, and to continue to be a dominant force the US needs a multifaceted relationship with countries in Asia. And China is pursuing that multifaceted relationship with many countries.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More subtly, a change in the strategy for\u00a0Asia can be seen in budget priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Just last September, Carter spoke of launching a new phase of the “rebalance,” one that would involve increasing spending in two key areas\u00a0\u2014\u00a0funding for the U.S. Coast Guard and increasing Foreign Military Financing for the 10 nations that form the ASEAN security collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior defense official told Defense News at the time that the Pentagon would be encouraging “increases in real terms” for the fiscal year 2018 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Said the official then, “We\u2019re certainly encouraging increased funding not just for the Coast Guard, but for the State Department\u2019s foreign military funding. I don\u2019t have the figures at my fingertips.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
However, both the Coast Guard and FMF are reportedly being targeted for cuts under the first Trump administration budget, although Congress seems poised to push back against the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, a bipartisan group of 58 House members wrote a letter in support of the Coast Guard, reportedly in line for a cut of $1.3 billion out of its $9.1 billion budget. Meanwhile, senators have expressed concerns about the future of the FMF program, with sources telling Defense News that the White House plans to propose replacing the current program with some form of loan plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Notes Graham, “The problem with Thornton\u2019s comments (not her fault) is that they occur in a policy vacuum. Attempting to fill that before a positive alternative to Obama\u2019s policies has been articulated while rejecting TPP or ditching the rebalance\/pivot Asian \u2018bumper sticker\u2019 comes across as negative, oppositionally-defined approach, and risks playing into China\u2019s hands.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike Yeo in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Trump administration will have a new plan for the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":43304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"},"4":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"},"5":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"},"6":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"},"7":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"}}},"categories":[45,8,11,19,48],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3378],"class_list":["post-23179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-congress","category-global","category-pentagon","category-the-americas"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"Y3EUY2X7DFH3XAHJ62IFBS3OJI","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2017\/03\/14\/pivot-to-the-pacific-is-over-senior-u-s-diplomat-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n