China Watch 42, ASEAN leaders' view of China and US

A good column today by a friend, Dr. Mangahas of SWS,

A survey of Asean thought-leaders 
By: Mahar Mangahas  / 05:05 AM February 20, 2021 
https://opinion.inquirer.net/137887/a-survey-of-asean-thought-leaders

Mahar wrote, 

"Asean chooses the US over China. If Asean were forced to align with one of the two, 62 percent in 2021 (up from 54 in 2020) choose the US...
The most trusted major power in the region is Japan (67 percent), followed by the EU (51), the US (48), India (20), and China (16). Japan is trusted for being a responsible stakeholder that respects and champions international law."

Amen to this, good points, Mahar. The CCP and Xi Jinping are seen as untrustworthy by ASEAN people. 

(This map from chinasage)
So Trump is correct in pushing back hard on CCP/Xi on many fronts.

1. CN High tariff protectionism.
2. CN large-scale IPR stealing,
3. Using/citing UN Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling in July 2016 on SCS/WPS that it is international water and not China water.
4. CN persecution of Uighur people as genocide.

Any backtracking by the Biden administration on any of these four impt policies will be seen as Biden appeasement of CN communista.

Meanwhile, this paper by a Fellow at the Brookings Institution, is shrewd.

A Superpower, Like It or Not
Why Americans Must Accept Their Global Role
By Robert Kagan  March/April 2021
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-02-16/superpower-it-or-not.

He wrote,

"The Chinese believe that the United States is in decline, and so do many Americans. The danger is that as Beijing ramps up efforts to fulfill what it has taken to calling “the Chinese dream,” Americans will start to panic. It is in times like this that miscalculations are made."

 "Americans will start to panic" is wrong. The appropriate perspective should be "Americans will start to enforce international rule of law." And that law is the UN PCA ruling -- SCS/WPS is intl water, not China water. And CN nine-dash-line (occupying everything in SCS/WPS except Palawan mainland) is illegal.

In his concluding paragraph, he wrote,

"...the purpose of NATO and other alliances is to defend not against direct threats to U.S. interests but against a breakdown of the order that best serves those interests."

Wrong. The raison d 'etre of NATO is political and military defense of members vs that big power in Europe that's not a member. Which is USSR, now Russia. NATO was formed in 1949, after WW2 and when there was aggressive East Germany vs West Germany, when Poland, Estonia, other East Europe were not friendly to West Europe. 

The Kagan redefinition of NATO purpose is exactly the Dems and arms industry agenda. Endless US taxpayers big defense spending in Europe, subsidize the member-countries if necessary. Trump scuttled that "subsidize European members" policy, he made them pay their dues otherwise US will cut its spending, the Dems and arms industry were very unhappy. Unhappy with Trump and his stop endless wars policy, he must go. As Kagan suggested, Biden should continue the Dems and arms industry agenda, back to their happy days.

That's why I said that Kagan is shrewd. He indirectly praises CN and blames the US. He indirectly advances the Dems and US arms industry agenda in supporting US endless spending in NATO, never mind US taxpayers.
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See also:
China Watch 39, Martin Jacques as CN propagandist, Sept. 12, 2019 
China Watch 40, More on US-CN rivalry, December 09, 2020 
China Watch 41, Trump vs Biden policies on China, February 04, 2021.