A former senior US official has called for a formal Pacific collective defence pact among the United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines, framing it as a timely and necessary move to deter China’s military ambitions.
But analysts warn that the proposal could inflame regional tensions and would face complex political and diplomatic challenges.
Ely Ratner, who served as assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs in former president Joe Biden’s administration, argued in a Foreign Affairs article published last week that Beijing was nearing the capability to reshape Asia by force.
“The time has come for the United States to build a collective defence pact in Asia,” he wrote. “For decades, such a pact was neither possible nor necessary. Today, in the face of a growing threat from China, it is both viable and essential.”
Beijing is intent on fulfilling President Xi Jinping’s vision of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, according to Ratner – a project he says includes reunifying with Taiwan, dominating the South China Sea, and weakening US-led alliances to reshape the regional order.
“If it succeeds,” he wrote, “the result would be a China-led order that relegates the United States to the rank of a diminished continental power: less prosperous, less secure, and unable to fully access or lead the world’s most important markets and technologies.”
