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Amid China Tensions, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam Pin Hopes on Biden

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Projected U.S. president-elect Joe Biden will energize
   Southeast Asian countries that spar with the more powerful China over
   the disputed South China Sea by siding with them without inviting armed
   conflict, analysts believe.
   These analysts are looking to the record of former U.S. president
   Barack Obama's administration -- in which Biden served as vice
   president -- for clues to what Biden might do in the region.
   Obama pursued what his government described as a "pivot to Asia" from
   2011 as the region became more vital to U.S. economic interests. He
   tried to enhance military agreements with five Asia-Pacific treaty
   allies, promoted the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade deal -- which
   Trump dropped in 2017 -- and launched a youth program aimed at building
   people-to-people relations.
   Based on that record, scholars say Biden can be expected to put more
   emphasize on diplomacy, rather than the sort of military moves favored
   by President Donald Trump, which have included naval ship passages
   through disputed waters and arms sales to China's regional rivals.
   Trump's approach has unsettled some Southeast Asian leaders, who seek
   stable relations with both superpowers. Brunei, Malaysia, the
   Philippines and Vietnam vie with China in the maritime sovereignty
   dispute -- while depending on the same communist neighbor for economic
   help.

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