The Trump Doctrine In A Regional Context

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Oriental Review,
The last section of the new US National Security Strategy (NSS) describes the envisaged application of the Trump Doctrine in a regional context all across the world, and it’s worthwhile to examine what storylines will most likely be advanced by the policy document’s intrinsic infowar component. This analysis is divided according to the geographic categories contained in the NSS and proceeds along that order, after which a brief summary will be presented in highlighting the most discernable global trends.
Indo-Pacific
The US says that ‘a geopolitical competition between free and repressive visions of world order is taking place in the Indo-Pacific region’ as China employs multifaceted influence strategies in a concerted effort to get regional states to follow its economic and political models. Although presented by China as being mutually beneficial, the NSS describes Beijing’s Silk Road relationships as being detrimental to its partners’ sovereignty. In response, Washington claims that ‘states throughout the region are calling for sustained U. S. leadership in a collective response that upholds a regional order respectful of sovereignty and independence’, which implies the creation of what the author has previously described as a ‘China Containment Coalition’ (CCC) to preserve the existing US-led unipolar system them. The suggested outcome of this initiative is the US’ ‘quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India’, with the latter once again being referred to as a ‘Major Defense Partner’ whose ‘growing relationships throughout the region’ will be supported by the US.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Dec 22, 2017.