Writing as a presidential candidate in 2020, Joe Biden vowed that his administration would “place the United States back at the head of the table,” ready to “work with its allies and partners to mobilize collective action on global threats.” When it came to confronting China, this promise was more than mere words: his administration has invested extensively to reassert US military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific, strengthening and expanding security ties with regional allies and partners but also keeping the United States firmly and decisively in the lead. As we argued earlier this year, the Biden administration, like those before it, remains committed to US primacy in the Indo-Pacific. But unlike his predecessor’s America-First, go-it-alone approach, in a tacit acknowledgment that the unipolar moment has ended and that sustaining US primacy is costlier than in the past, Biden has made strengthening regional alliances and partnerships a cornerstone of his approach. The administration’s China strategy aims to actively lead a group of allies and partners willing to help underwrite the costs of maintaining US military dominance in the Indo-Pacific, artificially propping up US regional primacy with coalition support.
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