Trump’s chaotic foreign policy unites dictators and tyrants against the West
While the US President treats longstanding allies with disrespect, threatens to seize their land and levies punitive tariffs on imports, Xi Jinping welcomed more than 25 foreign leaders to Beijing and rolled out, literally, the red carpet. Xi is uniting countries, not all anti-democratic, to join a Chinese-led, post-US world order.
Viewing the demonstration of China’s military might was Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as special guests. Also there were Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Myanmar’s military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
It should be deeply concerning to Australian policymakers that also attending from the Asia-Pacific region were Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, Vietnamese President Luong Cuong and Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith. And, of course, Australia’s Daniel Andrews was there shaking hands with Xi on the red carpet and photographed in the rogues gallery only a few rows back from Putin and Kim. Andrews is either supremely naive or was there only to further his business and lobbying interests.
He is not stupid so one can assume only the latter.
Especially concerning was the participation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in Tianjin. Modi and Putin joined hands as they approached Xi at the summit. Modi previously has spoken of his warm friendship with Putin, a dictator and aggressor who is waging a devastating war against democratic Ukraine.
This makes the Quad between the US, Japan, India and Australia with the stated purpose of “supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific” an utter nonsense with India firmly in the embrace of Russia and China.
Modi has long been backsliding when it comes to liberal democratic freedoms in India. He is not a defender of the liberal democratic world order.
The image of Xi, Modi and Putin talking warmly together prompted Trump to post: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” This typically petulant response by Trump underscores how hopeless and dangerous Trump’s foreign policy has been.
In many ways the US encouraged India to move closer to Russia and China. Trump claimed to have been personally responsible for ending the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, which incensed Modi. The Trump administration has levied 50 per cent tariffs on India. It was not long ago that the US thought India would help counterbalance China in the Indo-Pacific.
The US forged and led the post-war global order. Great presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower led the way in the 1940s and 50s. This was continued by their successors, from John Kennedy to Joe Biden, who all valued bilateral relationships and multilateral forums through which shared values could be articulated.
Trump has abrogated US leadership. He does not show any respect towards historical alliances or longstanding bilateral relationships. He has been ineffective in ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which he promised to resolve on day one of his presidency. He will not attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November but wants to host the G20 at his Florida golf course next year because, well, he will be able to profit from that personally.
The President has adopted the nativist and isolationist America First slogan that predates World War II as the leitmotiv of his foreign policy. He promised to end US involvement in wars. Yet last week the US Defence Department was renamed the Department of War. Does this signal a new aggressive global posture?
The argument advanced by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was that the US had not won a war since his department changed its name to Defence in 1949. It could hardly be more moronic.
US foreign policy has become utterly confused and contradictory, and its leadership in global affairs has been squandered. Key groupings such as the Quad, G20 and APEC – created to encourage free trade between nations – that we play a lead role in have been undermined and their future is uncertain. Australia’s security ally does not share its approach to trade, climate change, the war in Ukraine and democracy.
We can no longer rely on the US to safeguard the liberal world order. The US is sliding towards autocracy and no longer values the democratic principles that Australians have protected, advocated and fought for.
Trump pardoned the insurgents who tried to mount a coup in 2021, ransacked the US Capitol and assaulted law enforcement. He ignores court rulings, refuses to accept election outcomes and ruminates on a third term, which the US constitution forbids.
Yet the US remains our closest ally while Trump treats Australia with disdain and contempt. He has levied tariffs on Australian imports to the US. He still has not personally committed to the AUKUS agreement. Nor has he sent an ambassador to Canberra. Meanwhile, the US military footprint in Australia continues to expand with much of it kept secret.
While Trump insults and threatens allies, his deadlines and demands are routinely ignored by other nations, and he shows no interest in leading multilateral forums as the world’s most notorious and dangerous regimes are banding closer together, showcasing their awesome weaponry and offering an alternative to US global leadership. These are indeed perilous times.
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Trump’s clarion call against the liberal order
Donald Trump’s incoherent, confused and chaotic approach to foreign policy has united dictators, tyrants and autocrats, as evidenced by China’s huge military parade in Beijing last week. When democracies need to be united in defending the global rules-based order, the US has vacated its post-war leadership role.