The prevailing narrative among large swathes of the conservative media in the United States is that Washington and Beijing are now engaged in a new “Cold War.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in fact, suggests that the current confrontation with China is actually even worse than “Cold War 2.0” since “the CCP is already enmeshed in our economies, in our politics, in our societies in ways the Soviet Union never was.”
This sentiment goes far beyond just the media narrative. It is increasingly embraced in much of Washington, D.C.’s national security, think tank, and policymaking communities.
But unlike the actual Cold War, when most countries really did pick a side, Pompeo is finding it very tough to recruit allies in his campaign against the Chinese.
Time and again the Secretary issues blistering denunciations of the Chinese Communist Party and breathlessly tries to explain to countries in Asia, the Americas, and Africa why they should reject China’s entreaties.
His audience politely nods their heads, thanks the Secretary for his time, and then proceeds to ignore pretty much everything he said.
And to be fair, when Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi or the many Chinese diplomatic Twitter accounts in Africa start to churn out their endless criticism of the Americans, they pretty much get the same reaction.
But as we saw at the recent ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Hanoi, where Wang and Pompeo went at each other again, this patience isn’t endless. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi seemed to finally have had enough, and spoke up on behalf of fellow Southeast Asian states: “We don’t want to get trapped by this rivalry!”
Marsudi’s declaration could have just easily been said by any African foreign minister, many of who have also repeatedly pushed back against the Chinese and Americans for trying to suck them into this fight.
Pragmatism, not ideology is driving foreign policy in the overwhelming majority of developing countries around the world. Their current priorities are simple and clear: how to mitigate the effects of this awful virus, revive their economies, and build the necessary infrastructure that will enable their bulging populations to find meaningful employment.
Everything else, for now, is just noise… and until Pompeo internalizes that logic then U.S. foreign policy in vast parts of the developing world will continue to remain adrift.
