Indo-Pacific not battlefield for new Cold War

John Aquilino, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, who had been nominated by former US president Donald Trump last December to lead the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, replacing outgoing commander Phil Davidson, was on Thursday again nominated for the post by President Joe Biden, the Pentagon confirmed.

Trump had nominated Aquilino because of his hard-line approach to China. However, Aquilino also said that the US' competition with China does not necessarily mean conflict. It was this approach, similar to Biden's extreme competition with China policy, that prompted Biden to nominate him for the post, which heads the largest US combatant command in terms of personnel and area.

If he is appointed, the US Indo-Pacific Command is expected to play a key role in deterring China, as it seems clear that the Biden administration will continue its predecessor's strategy of marine containment against China.

Notably, the US Indo-Pacific Command applied to the Congress to increase its budget by $27 billion over the next five years. This is the first proposal the US military has submitted to Congress since the introduction of the "Pacific Deterrence Plan" in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021. The plan has been molded around the Europe Deterrence Initiative unveiled to contain Russia in 2014.

By all indications, the Indo-Pacific Command will become important in the US' geopolitical game with China in the coming years. But that entails close involvement of the Indo-Pacific countries. Neither the Southeast Asian countries, nor other countries in the region, including India, Japan and the Republic of Korea, are willing to make a choice between the US and China, given how their common interests are interwoven with the world's two largest economies.

None of these countries want to be reduced to pawns in Washington's blind, costly and doomed China-containment schemes. Australia should serve as a warning to these countries against the consequences of acting as a US mercenary in the latter's dealings with China.

Aquilino has to resign to the idea that there is no plan to create an Indo-Pacific NATO in the region, and restarting a Cold War will be a fatal misjudgment on the part of the US.