The US remains the top power in the Indo-Pacific, but has suffered the biggest relative fall in its standing in the region over the past year, partly because of the loss of prestige over the mishandling of COVID-19, the Lowy Institute’s Asia Power Index shows.
Releasing the latest annual results yesterday, the Australia-based foreign policy think tank said while China’s standing had stalled, it remained in second place and was believed to be on track to match the US by the end of this decade.
Australia was one of the few countries to gain in the scores of comprehensive power this year, overtaking South Korea as the region’s sixth-most powerful country, helped by growth in its regional cultural influence and expanding defense cooperation.
Photo: David Chang, EPA-EFE
Taiwan (ranked 14th) and Vietnam (12th) were also on the rise.
“This year we’ve seen an acceleration in power shifts, but driven really more by underperformance than anything else,” project director Herve Lemahieu told the Guardian Australia. “That’s as a direct consequence of the pandemic.”
The competent handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by Taiwan, Vietnam and Australia “was a necessary, but not sole condition” for improving their regional standing, the institute report said.
The annual index aims to provide a snapshot of the shifts in influence in the fast-changing Indo-Pacific region, ranking 26 countries and territories by the overall power they wield.
The scores are based on 128 indicators, including three new indicators added this year to track perceptions of the handling of the pandemic, major ecological threats and defense dialogues.
While power shifts “happen only slowly outside of wartime,” the pandemic has triggered “a race to the bottom,” with 18 states in the Indo-Pacific region experiencing significant downward shifts in their relative power, the report said.
US President Donald Trump’s administration’s unilateral instincts was one reason why the US underachieved against its ability to wield broad-based power in Asia, it said.
“America has suffered the largest reputational hit in the region for its domestic and international handling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report said. “The result is a powerful reminder that legitimacy and leadership on the world stage start with the capacity of leaders to govern well at home.”
The report said that Taiwan had one of the biggest gains in diplomatic influence (+9.0), but lost the most points in resilience (-0.9). It also improved in cultural influence (+1.1), future resources (+0.8) and economic relationships (+0.4), while trending down in economic capability (-0.9), defense networks (-0.6) and military capability (-0.2).
“Taiwan exerts less influence in the region than expected given its available resources, as indicated by the country’s negative power gap score. While Taiwan is a net underachiever in Asia, its negative power gap improved in 2020,” the report said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
MEMORIAL SERVICE: President Tsai spoke at a service at Chihhang Air Base to honor captain Chu Kuan-meng, who died after ejecting from his F-5E on Oct. 29 An air force F-16 jet went missing off the east coast of Taiwan last night, and search and recovery operations were ongoing as of press time, the Ministry of National Defense said. The F-16 disappeared from radar screens at 6:07pm 9 nautical miles (17km) northeast of Hualien Air Base, two minutes after taking off from the base as part of a nighttime training exercise, the ministry said. The F-16, serial number 6672, was piloted by Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), it said. A National Rescue Command Center statement said that a Black Hawk helicopter and Coast Guard Administration vessels had been
SUPPORT: Reporters Without Borders said that it stands behind the legitimacy of the commission’s probe and that press freedom does not mean the absence of oversight National Communications Commission (NCC) commissioners yesterday reached a unanimous decision to reject CTi News’ (中天新聞台) license renewal application on the grounds that the channel’s frequent contraventions of media regulations showed that it has a malfunctioning internal control mechanism that cannot be rectified. This was the first time since it was established in 2006 that the commission denied a license renewal to a news channel. NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) announced the landmark decision at the commission’s weekly media briefing. The commission denied the renewal request because the news channel was fined a total of NT$11.53 million (US$400,932) for 25 breaches of media regulations
AUTUMN STRUGGLE: The KMT and TPP set up stages on the rally’s sidelines, while Want Want boss Tsai Eng-meng said the DPP was curtailing freedom of speech Tens of thousands of people in Taipei yesterday took part in the “Autumn Struggle” (秋鬥) — an annual protest march by labor groups — but with this year’s focus on rejecting the government’s plan to allow imports of US pork containing ractopamine residue. “Against poisonous pork, against double standards, against a party-state,” the protesters, mostly wearing black, chanted in front of the rally’s main stage on Ketagalan Boulevard at about noon, before a parade set off at 2pm. Autumn Struggle spokesperson Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) said this year’s march was divided into three teams, with the first team urging food safety and labor
An investigation has found no mechanical problems underlying the Tuesday disappearance of an F-16 jet and its pilot, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday, adding that it does not rule out an accident due to “spatial disorientation.” An air force F-16 jet on Tuesday evening disappeared from radar screens, just two minutes after it took off from Hualien Air Base, while the 44-year-old pilot, Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), has yet to be found. Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) yesterday morning headed to Hualien for updates on the search and rescue, while giving a pep talk to Chiang’s unit,
RSS