BEIJING—As Barack Obama embarks on what is likely to be his final trip to Asia as president, attention is returning to what is known as the U.S. “pivot” to the continent launched during his first term.
The policy adjustment aimed to reinforce alliances and shift military assets to a region that has grown in importance alongside the rise of China as a global economic and political power. A look at some of the impacts on different countries in the Asia-Pacific region:
China: Key Economic Partnership Meets Regional Rivalry
The U.S. shift of focus to Asia has been driven by China’s emergence as a global force and America’s rival in the region. Such frictions have persisted despite an economic relationship that has seen the world’s largest economies and biggest military spenders amass two-way trade of more than $600 billion in 2015.
On the military side, the U.S. pivot chiefly involves the reassignment of 60 percent of the Navy fleet to Asia, the rotation of Marines through Australia and stronger cooperation with the Philippines, mainly as a response to China’s robust assertions of its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.
China has strongly criticized the U.S. approach and pressed ahead with island-building including airstrips, harbors and other infrastructure of potential military use. The U.S. has refused to recognize the new features as islands with sovereign rights and has repeatedly sent warships and planes near them in freedom of navigation missions.
Farther north in the East China Sea, the U.S. has ignored China’s declaration of an aircraft defense identification zone that encompasses islands controlled by American treaty partner Japan. South Korea’s plan to deploy an American missile defense system has also aroused China’s ire, sending relations between Seoul and Beijing to their lowest level in years.
China is also the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, and by some estimates, Chinese foreign direct investment into the U.S. has started to outstrip the flow of U.S. investment into China.
