Biden’s ‘Coalitions of the Willing’ Foreign-Policy Doctrine

“These minilateral meetings among three or four countries have really become a hallmark of the Biden administration’s strategy of developing a loose network of security relationships,” said Lisa Curtis, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Curtis said the minilateralism approach is likely to outlast the Biden era, whether he wins a second term or not. Both the Biden and Trump doctrines on the Indo-Pacific are remarkably similar, she said. Moreover, initiatives such as AUKUS meant to counter China are widely popular across the political spectrum in Washington, and Donald Trump’s Republican Party harbors deep skepticism of the U.N. and WTO systems.

It’s still unclear if the strategy is paying off. The Biden administration has scored high-profile wins in starting up what it refers to as a “latticework” of these diplomatic initiatives in the Indo-Pacific, but whether they can actually restrict China geopolitically remains to be seen.

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