July 12, 2023
The Myth of Neutrality
Countries Will Have to Choose Between America and China
As the U.S.-Chinese rivalry intensifies, other countries increasingly confront the dilemma of siding with either Washington or Beijing. This is not a choice that most countries wish to make. Over the past decades, foreign capitals have come to enjoy security and economic benefits from association with both the United States and China. These countries know that joining a coherent political-economic bloc would mean forgoing major benefits from their ties to the other superpower.
The number of unavoidable dilemmas will only rise as the U.S.-Chinese rivalry intensifies.
“The vast majority of Indo-Pacific and European countries do not want to be trapped into an impossible choice,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, observed at a 2022 meeting of the Brussels Indo-Pacific Forum. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., noted in 2023 that his country does not “want a world that is split into two camps [and] … where countries should choose what side they would be on.” Similar sentiments have been expressed by many leaders, including Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s deputy prime minister, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud. The message to Washington and Beijing is clear: no country wants to be forced into a binary decision between the two powers.
Read the full article from Foreign Affairs.
More from CNAS
-
China Is Just Fine With North Korean Troops in Ukraine
Commentary
North Korea's vital support for Russia's war directly supports the rise of the Axis of Upheaval....
By Jacob Stokes
-
The Sound of Ideas
Video
Richard Fontaine, the chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security, joins to discuss the future of U.S. foreign policy. Watch the full episode on The Oh...
By Richard Fontaine
-
The Quad Plus the Philippines
Reports
Introduction As the United States increasingly looks to multilateral partnerships to meet challenges in the Indo-Pacific, the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, and the United Sta...
By Lisa Curtis, Evan Wright & Nathaniel Schochet
-
Free Expression Encore: The Best of 2024
Podcast
Free Expression's final episode of 2024 features some of Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker's best interviews of the year, including conversations with Richard Fo...
By Richard Fontaine
