Trump Middle East strategy may have Asian impactーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
returning to the US military’s involvement in the Middle East we now want to focus on how it may affect the Indo-Pacific For that we spoke with Kurt Campbell He served as deputy secretary of state in the Biden administration He’s well-versed in US policies on Asia including Japan Uh Kimble says US interest in the Middle East will lead to a lack of response to the country seen as Washington’s biggest rival China many of the military capabilities that uh traditionally reside in the Indo-acific or uh those capabilities that had moved to the Indo-Pacific in recent years were urgently required in the Middle East And so you have aircraft carriers certain kinds of national technical means some other capacities that have been moved there for operational purposes And in truth over decades once those capacities have moved to the Middle East it’s sometimes hard to retrieve them in the Indo-Pacific And so that is noted But the real issue is the time focus and attention of seniormost leaders Campbell expressed concern that if the US strategic focuses on the Middle East the country’s involvement in Asia could weaken could lead to wider ramifications for the United States in the Middle East and elsewhere As someone who believes ultimately that American strategic interests lie more in the Indo-acific what I want for the Trump administration is to focus on building up allies and partnerships Japan in particular Australia South Korea all the key countries that make up a formidable group of like-minded states It’s hard to spend time on those essential uh challenges when we are continually drawn back to the Middle East Campbell says Washington’s interest in Japan is not as clear as it was before We’ve always been able to point out those key players inside the US government that are supporters of the US Japan relationship They’re not just Japan hands but there are people who understand the deep significance of our bilateral relationship To be perfectly honest I’m having difficulty identifying those people right now Amid rising US involvement in the Middle East how will it deal with China we asked Campbell whether Trump’s unpredictable and unconventional approach will work with Beijing I think China is somewhat wary as a result of some of these actions But the challenge is that that other countries even our allies and partners are wary as well I saw very clearly during uh my time in government the things that would cause deep anxiety in China were when the United States operated effectively with our allies and partners I just want to restate my hope is the Trump administration will come to see the extraordinary value of quad nations of other countries in the Indo-Pacific that share our values and that have worked with us constructively for decades Campbell said China is trying to take advantage of certain areas where the United States may have pulled back I understand why right now that this is necessary in the Middle East from their perspective but ultimately to put so much focus on military power and not looking at the full dimensions of American power in truth that soft power how people feel about our democracy the work that we’ve done in development I think those elements have been an important part of how the world sees the United States And I think undeniably some of those areas have been damaged in the last couple of months
Former senior US diplomat Kurt Campbell, well-versed in US Asia policy, tells NHK that his country’s involvement in the Middle East may affect its Asian activities. #world #usa #china #middleeast #security #politics
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