Reports that a senior Pentagon official has been telling America’s European allies to stay away from the Indo-Pacific may be a sign that Washington will ask its Asian allies to shoulder more responsibility for countering China, according to some analysts.
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On Tuesday, Politico reported that defence undersecretary for policy Elbridge Colby had tried and failed to stop Britain from sending an aircraft carrier to the Indo-Pacific.
The report cited sources who interpreted the Pentagon’s No 3 as “basically saying ‘You have no business being in the Indo-Pacific’”. They added that he thought the United States does not “need the Europeans to be doing anything” in the region.
Liselotte Odgaard, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, said this might increase the pressure on US allies in the region to do more to help contain China.
“Asking Europe to leave doesn’t mean they [the European countries] should not be tough on China. The US asks them to be much tougher in Europe on China with regards to export controls, their cooperation with Russia in the Arctic et cetera,” Odgaard said.
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“But when it comes to [China]… the US doesn’t want Europe to mess up its defence cooperation with its Indo-Pacific allies and its plans for military deterrence of China. There is a risk that Europe and Indo-Pacific allies join forces in resisting some US defence policies.”