Having attended summits in China and Burma, President Barack Obama heads to Australia this weekend for the G-20 summit, all while carrying the albatross of his party’s electoral losses last week. But the president—and foreign officials—could soon come to realize that the incoming Republican-led U.S. Congress is good news for Asia and America’s position in the region. Despite their differences with Mr. Obama, congressional Republicans will likely be better custodians of America’s “pivot” to Asia than congressional Democrats have been.
Republicans would be well-advised to take advantage of this opportunity, even if helping the Obama administration’s foreign policy may not be their favorite thing. Because while the Middle East and Europe will of course require U.S. attention for decades to come, the Asia-Pacific is the globe’s engine of economic dynamism and its emerging central arena of strategic competition.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.
Authors
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Elbridge Colby
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Richard Fontaine
Chief Executive Officer
Richard Fontaine is the chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He served as president of CNAS from 2012–19 and as senior fellow from 2009–12...
