Collins Chong Yew Keat
By reaffirming its commitment to the region through Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s attendance at this week’s ASEAN meetings in Kuala Lumpur, the United States has presented Southeast Asia a rare and urgent chance to correct past strategic drift and declare that Washington remains the region’s most essential economic and security partner.
We must no longer be in the denial mode to dismiss the reality of the trade imbalances and injustice that have prompted Trump to reset the tariffs, and with the new tariffs imposed, this clearly shows the failure for these countries and the region, including Malaysia,
to project a renewed sense of trust in the US policymakers, and to address the concerns raised. This visit presents us the rare platform to send a new message of the commitment to reaffirm our ties with the most important defence and economic partner, as the most powerful economic and military player in the world by far.
The presence of Rubio and the choice of attending the regional meetings in Malaysia as the first stop in Asia sends a powerful message to both allies and adversaries, that the US is here to stay in its overarching agenda of maintaining a free and open Indo Pacific, despite Beijing’s actions in courting US allies and in sowing discontent on the tariffs in creating new pushback mechanisms in the region, and despite the distractions in the Middle East and in Ukraine.
This shows that the ultimate aim has never wavered, that is of China’s imminent threat and the biggest pacing and primary challenge to the US, from the bellicose actions in South China Sea to the intimidation of Taiwan, to the rising capacities in new kinetic and non kinetic warfare capabilities and in the chokehold of key resources.
This presence is meant to put a stop to the conventional worries of both allies and neutral players in the region, that the US under Trump has never wavered from the commitment to defend the rules based order, but contingent upon these players showing their sincere and reciprocal intent to play their part in increasing their own defence spending and commitment, and not taking Washington for a ride.
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