By Bilawal Hammad
Your commercial awareness dose
Asia, as a continent, is the heart of the world. Therefore Asian region holds a plethora of importance both strategically and economically. Recently, elections 2020 were conducted in the USA. The effect of the recent US elections on Asia is enormous and phenomenal. It can be gauged from the fact that in every presidential term in the USA, there is a special policy framework related to the Asian continent.
Policies like the US pivot to Asia, US Indo-Pacific policy, and US Pak-Afghan policy are great examples of how much value Asia, as a region, holds for the global superpower USA. Following the 2000 millennium, the Asian continent had an added impetus to its importance to the global world. Asia is the most populated continent in the world. Therefore, it had great value for international trade and investment. The USA was the pioneer of the world and had developed a great interest in Asia. Post-2001 world trade centre incident, there was a further fillip in the worth of the Asian region because of the world’s and especially the USA’s quest to thwart terrorism and crush its roots.
Asian nations had set their eyes on the election 2020 in the USA. Following Donald Trump’s presidency in 2017, the relations between the USA and Asia has been tumultuous. Trump revoked TPP ( Trans-Pacific Partnership), a trade and investment agreement between the USA and 12 Asian nations. The deal was previously termed as a game-changer in the relationship between the USA and Asia.
Trump also opted out of the Paris Climate Agreement, while Asia was the region that was most affected by climate change. The USA was the world’s number one carbon dioxide emitter. Hence, the USA’s act to quit the Paris climate agreement had a significant impact on US-Asia relations. In addition, the USA backed from supporting Asian nations against China’s flexing of muscles in the Asian region. In short, the relationship between the USA and Asia has not been the same during Trump’s tenure as they were in Barack Obama’s presidency.
There is a ray of hope in Asian nations following Joe Bidden winning the election of 2020 on November 3, 2020. The president-elect Joe Bidden had announced during his campaign that if he is elected as president, he would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. Soon after winning the election, president-elect Joe Bidden contacted his Asian allies on November 10, 2020. The above-mentioned acts of president-elect Joe Bidden are a good omen for the Asian region. With the democrats now again getting hold of power in the USA in January 2020 the relations between the USA and Asia are going to be rejuvenated.
It is worth noting that it was Democrats in power in the post-financial crisis period when the USA announced its pivot to Asia policy. The relationship between the USA and Asia was at its zenith during that period. Now with democrats again getting hold of the White House, we can hope that things will get back to normal between the USA and Asia. Although the trade war among the USA and China is expected to continue, Democrats believe in competition and co-operation at the same time so their stance towards China will not be as stringent as Republicans.
The majority of Asian capitals did not want trump’s presidency to continue because of the lack of co-operation from the USA. Hong Kong wanted a president in the USA who could thwart the excesses of the Chinese Communist Party in China. Taiwan wanted a president who would keep a check on China’s human rights violations in the region. Japan was in favour of a president who would be supportive enough in his policies towards Japan and support Japan’s claim to Senkaku islands, which is a disputed region in the East China Sea between Japan and China.
We can conclude from the above discussion that relations between the USA and Asia will resuscitate following the US elections 2020. The president-elect Joe Bidden is expected to restart TPP ( Trans-Pacific Partnership ) that will improve trade and investment between the USA and Asia. Joe Bidden also announced to rejoin Paris Climate Agreement that holds an excellent value for the Asian continent. With Joe Bidden now elected as the president of the USA, we will see a shift in the policies of the USA towards Asia. Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that the USA’s policy towards China, which is the most powerful country in Asia, will remain the same as China and the USA are locked into a Thucydides’ trap.
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