The so-called “Pivot to Asia”, proclaimed in the fall of 2011, has been the cornerstone of the Obama Administration’s approach to Asia. This strategy has already seen American troops return to the Philippines under the “Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement”, and Washington is currently plotting whether to deploy its THAAD anti-missile technology in South Korea.
Now the US will be ramping up its military cooperation with its former Vietnamese nemesis, which is also one of its key economic partners with the TPP, and combined with its heightened strategic coordination with Japan, it sure looks a lot like Obama is trying to create a “China Containment Coalition”.
Anton Fedyashin, professor of history at the American University in Washington DC (studio guest); Yasuhisa Kawamura, Press Secretary of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan; and Rebecca Chan, political commentator from Hong Kong, commented on the issue.