The Asia Chessboard

This week, Mike is joined by Ganbat Chuluunkhuu, Managing Director at RVJ Capital, as they journey to the middle of the chessboard to discuss Mongolia’s role in the Asia-Pacific region. Ganbat dives into Mongolia’s history of strategic culture, starting with the legacy of Genghis Khan, and outlines the intricacies of Mongolia’s relationships with China, Russia, and “third neighbors” like the United States. As the only democracy in Central Eurasia, Mongolia has becoming increasingly important for U.S. grand strategy and Mongolian sovereignty rests on the balance between China, Russia, and its third neighbors.

This week, Mike is joined by Tom Wright, director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution, to discuss how domestic politics impacts U.S. grand strategy. The two go into detail about how both Democrats and Republicans currently view U.S. strategy in Asia, and where both parties converge and diverge when it comes to the “China Challenge.” Now that there will be a transfer of power in the White House, what does the recent 2020 U.S. election tell us about the U.S. role in the world, and in Asia specifically?

This week, Mike is joined by his CSIS colleagues Jude Blanchette, Bonnie Glaser, and Scott Kennedy, to discuss their recently-launched project, “Mapping the Future of U.S. China Policy.” For this project, CSIS surveyed the American public and thought leaders in the United States, Asia, and Europe to map perspectives on China policy. The discussion centers around the project’s five main takeaways on issues surrounding national security, economics and trade, and human rights. The results point to possible contours of an enduring strategy around international coalition building on the China challenge. 

This week, Mike is joined by Chris Capozzola, Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to discuss his new book on the history of U.S.-Philippines relations, Bound by War. The two discuss the importance of history for informing grand strategy, and what lessons we can learn from the 1900s, which Dr. Capozzola argues is the "original" Asian century. Dr. Capozzola starts with the strategic significance of the United States and the Philippines to one another, highlighting the geographic location of the Philippines. He goes on to explain the binational history between the two countries and how they have shaped one another. What are the strengths and weaknesses within the relationship, and how can understanding history help the United States build a platform for more strategic dialogue with the Philippines moving forward?

This week, Mike is joined by the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) to discuss the role of Congress in decision-making on U.S. national security policy in the Asia-Pacific. In their discussion, they look at strategic competition with China and the importance of working jointly with allies and partners, especially through exercising together. They also highlight the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a bipartisan initiative introduced by Senator Reed in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. How can the U.S. increase its deterrence in the region? What can Congress do to signal our commitments to our allies and partners?

This week, Mike is joined by two CSIS colleagues who are leading thinkers on Southeast Asia in Washington: Murray Hiebert, Senior Associate of the Southeast Asia Program, and Greg Poling, Senior Fellow of the Southeast Asia Program and Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. They focus their discussion on Murray's new book, Under Beijing's Shadow: Southeast Asia's China Challenge, which details the response of different Southeast Asian countries to China's rise and argues that countries view China both as an opportunity and a challenge. In formulating U.S. policy towards Southeast Asia, how do we deal with these countries' competing economic and security interests?

Russian and Chinese Interference is becoming an increasingly important part of the strategic chessboard in the Asia-Pacific. This week, Mike is joined by Amy Searight, Senior Associate for Asia at CSIS, and Heather Conley, Senior Vice President for Europe at CSIS, to discuss their new report on countering Russian and Chinese influence activities. Through looking at different case studies, Amy and Heather outline the similarities and differences between Russian and Chinese influence campaigns, and explain how they learn from one another. Finally, they give recommendations for how countries in the region can counter these activities, which are often aimed at breaking apart U.S. alliances. 

In part two of Mike's discussion with Abe Denmark and Mira Rapp-Hooper, the three take a look at the importance of alliance coordination in the Indo-Pacific, the challenges U.S. alliances currently face, and how the U.S. alliance network factors into competition with China. What are the major issue areas that U.S. and allied officials are looking at today? What are the prospects for networking America's Pacific and Atlantic alliances? 

Mike is joined by Abe Denmark, Director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, and Mira Rapp-Hooper, Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss the past, present, and future of the U.S. alliance system in the Indo-Pacific. What are the major strategic decision points facing the U.S. and its allies in the Indo-Pacific? Is present friction within the alliance network emblematic of the current administration or broader, more systemic issues? Mike, Mira, and Abe frame the discussion around Mira and Abe's new books on alliances: Mira's "Shields of the Republic" and Abe's "U.S. Strategy in the Asian century."

Mike is joined in this episode by former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development Elbridge Colby, with a special guest appearance by CSIS U.S. Alliances Project Director Patrick Buchan. Mike, Bridge, and Pat discuss the planning process for the National Defense Strategy and its impact on force posture in the Indo-Pacific. How are the interests of allies accounted for in the drafting of major planning documents like the NDS? How does the NDS envision the U.S. taking advantage of a post-INF Asia? How does the NDS differ from or resemble the Obama-era “pivot to Asia?”