The foreign policy of the United States has changed dramatically with the accession of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008, especially with regard to the Asia-Pacific region. Barack Obama is the exceptional forty-fourth president of the United States of America, who presented a different model from his predecessors in foreign relations. In 2009, the Obama administration announced a new strategy towards the Asia-Pacific region based on rebalancing. This region was a priority for Obama, unlike previous US administrations. This orientation of the United States towards the East coincided with the tremendous Chinese progress, which has become an imminent threat to the international standing of the United States.
So the Obama administration’s move to place great attention on the Asia Pacific region can be seen as anticipating Chinese progress and strengthening the US presence there. The Obama administration intended to provide great support to Asian organizations such as ASEAN in order to strengthen the US political and moral influence, and to isolate China in its Asian surroundings. Obama’s policy towards the Asia-Pacific region went beyond political support to include strengthening the military presence there. It was a clear and declared message from the United States to the Chinese that they will not abandon that region as it is a strategic part of the US geopolitical map.
As part of Obama’s strategy, the United States increased its economic exchanges with that region, with the aim of increasing the economic role of the United States and reducing exchanges with China. Several US reports indicated that Obama was tough and flexible with China at the same time. His administration has put great pressure on the Chinese while maintaining the good bilateral relations. Therefore, the primary goal of Obama’s new strategy toward the Asia Pacific region is to counter Chinese progress and strengthen the role of the United States, which has been greatly affected by Chinese openness.
Obama was able to combine realpolitik elements, such as strengthening the military presence of US forces, and liberal elements, such as more economic exchanges with that region. I am focusing here on Obama’s unique policy toward Asia-Pacific that combines structural realism with institutional neoliberalism. The bulk of my research links between structural realism and the foreign policy of the US administration. However, President Obama has presented an advanced model in foreign policy. It is certain that the United States will not make change through military force alone, specifically in the Asia-Pacific region, which explains the critical decisions of President Obama. He has promoted neoliberalism at the expense of realism, as he has given priority to institutions and economic exchanges without excluding the military option.
In this context, I rely on Obama administration’s interest in the Asia-Pacific region. Obama established a new model in the foreign policy of the United States based on realism and neoliberalism on soft and hard power; therefore, this article discusses the extent of the success of this policy in the Asia-Pacific region and the possibility of establishing it as a model. Therefore, I wonder about the feasibility of this unique hybrid policy presented by Obama’s administration. I explain this US policy towards Asia-Pacific by applying realist and neoliberal methods. Many previous studies have been published on this topic, but I am here to approach it from a different perspective and to add some clarification. The Obama administration’s move towards the Asia-Pacific region is extremely important, and this issue turned to be a hot topic in international relations to this day.
The Obama era was characterized by great concern for the Pacific, as it used the term “Asia-Pacific” that corresponds to Chinese aspirations, in contrast to the Trump administration, which used the concept of “Indo-Pacific”, which led to turmoil in the US-Chinese relations. In 2012 Obama stated that “‘the U.S. is a Pacific nation. [The] Pacific will sculpt the future of the U.S., that’s why I have made restoring U.S. engagement a cornerstone.” Obama has reduced the United States’ engagement in the Middle East and other regions to strengthen its presence in the Pacific. I am not about to judge the paradigm shift Obama made, but the main thing is that there are many challenges ahead for the United States in Asia-Pacific. In this context Hillary Clinton stated in 2011 that “it is becoming increasingly clear that in the 21st century, the world’s strategic and economic center of gravity will be the Asia-Pacific.”
The “Strategic Pivot to Asia” that the Obama administration adopted in 2011 aimed at maintaining the security of the South China Sea, reducing the threat of North Korea, and strengthening the American counter-presence as an indirect message to the Chinese administration. However, since 2009, the United States has become an economic, military and institutional actor in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2009, the institutional, economic and military participation of the United States with regional institutions has increased, as well as military resources, trade and investment, such as the periodic deployment of American forces and ships in Australia and Singapore, and the signing of new military agreements with Japan and the Philippines since 2009 and 2010. Thus, the practical policy began in 2009, but was officially announced in 2011. The US administration at the time had strengthened its military presence and increased trade exchanges as a moral support for its allies in the region, but China has been in continuous progress at all levels and has not been disregarded by those American movements.
A military report indicates that the United States forces stationed in Europe and other continents decreased – relatively and absolutely – while the deployment of US forces in the Asia-Pacific region increased. Therefore, the US government reduced its interest in Europe and the Middle East and increased its focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Chinese progress has made the Obama administration seriously consider a policy of orientation toward Asia-Pacific, but at the lowest cost, such as increased institutional participation, rotational deployment and long-range missile systems, rather than a massive increase in military resources sent to the region. The Chinese administration is aware of the repercussions of US policy, so it has never stopped developing its military systems and securing the necessary protection for the South China Sea, which is part of Chinese sovereignty. The United States is obligated to strengthen its interactions with the Asia-Pacific; otherwise it will give China more power, which goes against its interests. In 2010 President Obama clarified his ideas when he said, “In the past, the United States has thrived when both our nation and our national security policy have adapted to shape change instead of being shaped by it …. Now, we must once again position the United States to champion mutual interests among nations and peoples”.
The administration of President Obama has strengthened US ties with the Asia-Pacific region due to the changing international balance of power. Therefore, it has become necessary for the United States to follow a new strategy towards Asia-Pacific. The US interests in that region are being threatened by the great Chinese openness. This explains Obama’s neoliberal approach on this issue. The question that arises today is “will US President Joe Biden follow the same Obama policy approach toward Asia-Pacific, or will he have his own policy towards this important geostrategic region?”
The world’s experience with the Democrats indicates that the US policy under President Joe Biden may not resemble Trump’s policy and will not be very different from Obama’s policy. US President Joe Biden should realize that war on terror and military interventions in the Middle East and other conflict areas would not be in the interest of the United States because the great danger to the United States is coming from the Far East; China is making rapid and tremendous economic progress and is likely to become the world’s first economy. The withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan and their mobilization in Asia-Pacific indicates that President Biden has well understood the rules of the game of contemporary international politics.
