Asia Spotlight: 2024 | Taiwan, climate, and U.S. economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific
On January 25, 2024, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) hosted a one-day conference in Washington D.C. called Asia Spotlight: 2024. The event provided a platform for highly substantive conversation between top government officials, policy experts, and private sector leaders on the key challenges and opportunities ahead for Asia in 2024.
On the sidelines of the conference, ASPI convened experts from Asia and the U.S. at three private roundtables, discussing: cross-Taiwan relations in a regional context; how to navigate the climate security trade nexus; and how the U.S. can step up its economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. All three roundtables were conducted under the Chatham House rule.
Taiwan’s 2024 Elections and Regional Security Dynamics
This roundtable was convened shortly after the Taiwan election, and participants outlined perspectives on how to maintain cross-Strait peace and stability from policy communities outside of Washington, Beijing, and Taipei. Here are some of the key takeaways:
• Risk of conflict in the Taiwan Strait is manageable
• The U.S. should reflect on its agency in ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait
• Countries in the Asia-Pacific do not have a common view of how to manage China’s rise, especially on territorial issues
• The U.S. is “winning” the regional balance of influence — for now
Read more about the takeaways and the full summary of the conversation here.
Ensuring the U.S Approach to Asia Accelerates Climate Progress
In many ways, the Biden administration has prioritized climate action in its approach towards Asia, including by embedding climate cooperation into bilateral and multilateral relationships. Yet, the administration’s objectives to bring jobs back to the U.S. and to secure critical clean technology supply chains introduce competing interests to U.S. foreign policy that could impede climate goals.
This discussion identified tensions in the climate-security-trade nexus and developed recommendations for the U.S. to seize opportunities to maximize climate progress. Top recommendations include:
• Leverage partnerships to anchor COP28
• Develop tools to share the benefits of industrial policy
• Create a comprehensive strategy to make trade policy equitable
• Assess the climate and political value of policies
Read more about the recommendations and the conversation here.
Strengthening U.S. Economic Engagement in the Indo-Pacific
This roundtable brought together more than 30 experts from diverse vantage points, including former Senator Rob Portman and former Representative Ron Kind. The discussion focused on potential avenues for enhancing U.S. economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific, keeping in mind the evolving trade landscape in the region, the tough domestic politics on trade, as well as setbacks and downsides to previous approaches.
Here are some key takeaways from the conversation:
• The U.S. needs to enhance economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific
• The U.S. needs to prioritize bilateral and sectoral partnerships
• The discussion underscored a need to do a better job in effectively communicating the economic benefits of proactive trade policies to U.S. workers and the middle class
• There is a need to rebuild the partnership between Congress and the administration
Read more about the takeaways and a summary of the discussion here.
For more information about the Asia Spotlight: 2024 conference, visit this page or email [email protected].