World seeks a very different sort of US leadership from what’s on offer

America’s use of proxy conflicts to maintain its dominance betrays its core values and the trust of allies
The global community seeks an America willing to collaborate as an equal partner to help shape a more stable international order

Peter T. C. Chang

Published: 5:46am, 12 Jan 2024

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The Gaza conflict has severely eroded the moral standing of the US. If Donald Trump were to return to power, he could exacerbate this with his “Make America Great Again” priorities, compounding the great power rivalry with China. But what the world needs is an America that not only upholds its founding principles but is willing to get along with others to shape a more equitable global order.

In Taiwan, the potential victory of presidential hopeful William Lai Ching-te, seen as pro-independence, is expected to exacerbate tensions in the Taiwan Strait. In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s more assertive stance is heightening the risk of a military clash in the South China Sea.

The United States has vowed unwavering support for both Taiwan and the Philippines, amid their challenges with Beijing. The escalating tensions in the region echo US President Joe Biden’s broader warning about the mounting threat that rising authoritarianism poses for democracies across the globe.

Three decades ago, the landscape for democracies looked markedly different. The end of the Cold War ushered in a unique unipolar moment, with the US reigning supreme and unchallenged. A sense of triumphalism prevailed, encapsulated by the proclamation of liberal democracy as the “end of history”, implying an inexorable march towards democratic progress.

But the September 11 attack abruptly shattered that fleeting peace. Americans retaliated by invading Iraq and Afghanistan. The US “war on terror” heightened tensions across the Muslim world. Optimism over the “end of history” swiftly gave way to a bleaker narrative: the clash of civilisations.

In 2021, Biden finally withdrew US troops from Afghanistan, marking the end of a two-decade-long, futile attempt to instate democracy. Then, in 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. For Washington, if democracy cannot be transplanted through force, it must nevertheless be defended – and containing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression is an imperative.

Two years later, support for Ukraine appears to be wavering. Blaming the Republicans, Biden warned that Ukraine’s struggle could imperil the liberal international order. But the absence of US troops on the ground has long cast doubts on the West’s commitment to defending Ukraine. Evidently, Nato is wary of a direct confrontation with a nuclear-armed Russia.

Here is the harsh reality check on the US campaign to safeguard democracy amid a great power struggle: the spectre of mutually assured destruction. If democracy cannot be built militarily, as in Afghanistan, neither can it be defended through military means alone, as the Ukraine crisis is showing.

Washington, Beijing and Moscow are acutely aware that direct conflict among each other would result in catastrophic consequences. Thus, three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world finds itself in another nuclear detente.

Nevertheless, this has not deterred the US from engaging in proxy warfare, prodding smaller nations to confront Russia and China. Ukraine starkly exemplifies this tragic reality. Trapped in an unwinnable war, Kyiv has become a pawn in the great power rivalry. A parallel fate looms for Taipei and Manila.

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As with Russia, America is unlikely to risk a direct confrontation with China. In the event of open hostilities, Taiwanese and Filipinos may find themselves left to navigate the crisis on their own. America’s use of proxy conflicts to contain its adversaries represents a reckless and perilous strategy, laden with the potential for disastrous repercussions.

But one conflict Washington did not anticipate was the Gaza war. At the outset, Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against an overreaction to the October 7 attack. That warning notwithstanding, Israel unleashed a brutal and punitive campaign against Hamas.

The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly for a humanitarian truce in Gaza. Reminiscent of the aftermath of September 11, Israel’s ferocious retaliation has reignited the ominous narrative of a clash of civilisations and stoked outrage across the Muslim world. Despite this, Washington remains resolute in its support of Tel Aviv, a stance that perplexes many.

Paradoxically, the US finds itself resembling a pawn on someone else’s chessboard, reluctantly drawn into conflicts it seeks to evade. Moreover, the escalating Israel-Palestinian hostility is in danger of expanding into a wider regional war, further ensnaring America in its complexities.

During the Cold War, president Ronald Reagan depicted the US-Soviet Union confrontation as a battle between good and evil. Biden is adopting a similar moral posture with today’s great power rivalry, framing it as a contest between democracy and authoritarianism.

But global sentiment no longer resonates with the US assertion of moral superiority. The American use of proxy conflicts to maintain its world dominance betrays both its core values and trust among allies. Washington’s failure or reluctance to halt Israel’s ruthless demolition of Gaza has laid bare a glaring hypocrisy in its foreign policy.

With US in crisis, Global South must ensure a peaceful shift in world order

During a campaign speech last Friday marking the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot, Biden warned that “democracy is on the ballot” in the coming presidential election.

Undoubtedly, the prospect of Trump’s return to the White House poses an existential threat to America’s besieged democracy and could exacerbate the fragility of the global order. That said, an America under Biden that falls short of its professed ideals also presents risks and dangers to the world.

The fate of US democracy hangs in the balance with the presidential election. For the world, however, neither a Biden nor Trump presidency would ease the great power rivalry.

What the global community earnestly seeks is an American leadership committed to its founding principles, substantiating its lofty declarations with action. Equally vital is an America willing to collaborate with other nations as an equal partner, contributing to the establishment of a more stable international order.

Peter T.C. Chang is a research associate at the Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia