Biden’s Military-First Posture in the East Is a Problem

Changi Naval Base, which sits on the east coast of Singapore near the busy shipping lanes of the Singapore Strait, has in the first months of 2023 been welcoming well-armed American visitors. Less than two weeks into the new year came a visit from the USS Makin Island, an amphibious assault ship. Days later, the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrier with a small city’s worth of crew members, made a port call—accompanied by three destroyers.

These types of visits are the most visible aspect of the increased military cooperation that is characteristic of President Joe Biden’s strategy for the Indo-Pacific, the region that encompasses the expanse of sea and nations from America’s Pacific coast to the Indian Ocean. U.S. troops have access to five military bases in the Philippines, which is a former U.S. colony and America’s oldest treaty ally in Asia. Earlier this month, the two