after making room for China for years, president of America, Joe Biden, pledged to strengthen ties with Asia through the donation of millions of vaccines against covid and consolidation of military commitments. But when it comes to the economy of the Pacific, Biden faces an impasse.
As leaders of the Asia-Pacific gather for an annual economic summit this week, the Biden administration is still trying to articulate its economic vision for the region, nearly five years after it. Donald Trump Pulled the US out of trade agreements with 11 Pacific countries.
Although Biden announced last week that the US was considering a new economic framework for the Indo-Pacific, he gave little information about how it would work in practice.
China has sought to take advantage of pressure to comply with agreements that were once seen as vehicles the US could use to set rules for the region. In September, China made a formal request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), but the agreement was abandoned by Trump.
and last month the president Xi Jinping China is also planning to enter into a digital economy agreement that includes US partners Singapore, Chile and New Zealand.
Deborah Elms, founder of the Asian Trade Center in Singapore, said: “The US is lagging behind, with a very poorly placed economy on the economic side of the region.” “You have a government that is again putting ‘America First’ in a different language.”
For China, joining the CPTPP would help the Beijing government counter the perception that it would not comply with the rules after several known cases of import blocking during geopolitical disputes, including in Australia, in recent years.
Experts say Beijing’s leaders want to prevent Taiwan from joining the CPTPP and project a hostile US image after it reached an agreement with Britain to supply nuclear submarine technology to Australia.
