Dr. Scott Shepherd is a British-American academic. He received his Ph.D. from the University of London on the text and performance of Hamlet, and has taught in universities in the U.K. and Korea.
America wakes up
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech on infrastructure spending at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, March 31, in Pittsburgh. AP
By Scott Shepherd
By Scott Shepherd
For years America and its allies have been on the back foot. Struggling with internal division, domestic politics and now a pandemic, democracies seem to have been having a bit of a rough ride.
It's hard to remember the last time we heard a democratic country announce any big, proactive plans on the international stage. Rather, the news has been full of Western governments, and especially the U.S., either simply reacting to events or actively withdrawing from international institutions.
The name of Obama's North Korea policy, dubbed “strategic patience,” is just a glamorized synonym for “doing nothing.” During Trump's time in office, we got a few nice photos and lots of wind about the North's denuclearization, but nothing of real worth. In fact, just through the act of meeting together, Trump gave Kim a huge prestige boost both at home and abroad.
It's not limited to just North Korea. In 2017, then-President Trump announced his intent to end America's participation in the Paris Agreement, a plan he followed through with in 2020, the same year he began the U.S.' withdrawal from the WHO.
More: in 2018 America withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal which had been the product of painstaking diplomacy involving so many countries. Relations with Cuba also soured during Trump's presidency.
But it wasn't just America's enemies. Trump repeatedly cast doubt on his support for NATO; he entered into aggressive negotiations with South Korea about the cost of U.S. bases here; he insulted friends and allies over and over again while heaping praise on strongmen and dictators.
Among all the damaging actions on the world stage, perhaps the worst was the betrayal of the Kurds in Northern Syria. The repercussions of these kinds of actions last long into the future and it will take years to rebuild trust in alliances with America. Why would anyone trust American promises if its presidents are so quick to break them?
True, there have been a number of peace agreements in the Middle East. The UAE and Bahrain both signed treaties with Israel to much fanfare late last year in Washington. And Sudan and Morocco indicated later that they would follow suit. These are all certainly steps towards peace in the region and all parties involved, including Trump, deserve full credit for the roles they played. Yet the treaties have hardly transformed the Middle East and North Africa into a haven of calm and peace. Iran and Saudi Arabia, not to mention Russia, still vie for power in the region. And let's not even get started talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mostly, the past few years have been marked by inaction on the part of the U.S. specifically and the West more generally. Obama did nothing in the face of a chemical weapons attack in Syria; the Russians poisoned someone in the streets of a British town and what was done?
There was complete failure to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, and there is even now a continued failure to prevent Chinese domination of the South China Sea, despite the 2016 ruling at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. In response to China's violation of its 1997 treaty promising to protect Hong Kong's autonomy, there has been nothing more than talk.
The go-to method of the West has become simply to slap sanctions on a few people. But what do the generals of Myanmar care if they can't go on holiday to Disneyland? Do we really think the Russians who tried to assassinate a man in Salisbury were keeping all their savings in Bank of America? Anyone who is prepared to flout international law or conduct a coup knows well enough to protect themselves from American sanctions in advance. And as the murder of Jamal Khashoggi demonstrated, even America's allies are willing to assassinate their critics in a bustling city in a NATO country.
The past few years have been marked by stupid decision after stupid decision, by failure after embarrassing failure in international diplomacy. Trump's policy of bullying everyone around him may have worked him wonders in the business world, but it just didn't have the same effect in international politics.
So what a welcome relief it was last week to see the news that Biden had actually proposed an initiative which is not only proactive and constructive, but also cooperative. In a call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last Friday, Biden suggested an international infrastructure plan to rival
China's Belt and Road Initiative
.
What a great idea.
I don't want this piece to be about domestic American party politics, though I concede that my criticism of Trump's foreign policy has probably already ruined any chance of that. But whatever your politics, isn't it great that we can actually see some initiative coming from the U.S.? Since coming into office, Biden has stopped America's withdrawal from the WHO and has signed back up to the Paris Agreement. It seems from his actions so far that Biden is keen to participate in dialogue and diplomacy, to act in a long-term, nuanced way.
Of course, the challenges for the kind of project being suggested would be immense. An infrastructure project on this scale would need to be planned carefully and executed in coordination with partners around the world. And it cannot just be an American project ― it needs to be cooperative not coercive, and it must bring real benefits to all involved.
Obviously an infrastructure plan won't solve the world's problems. We'll continue to have all kinds of injustice globally, and we'll probably continue to see useless sanctions imposed ― what else is there to do? Nonetheless, if done properly, an ambitious project like this will be a great tool for international cooperation and partnership, a force for good in this hard world, a way to balance China's ever-growing power.
We're all aware that America is far from perfect, and some of its actions are downright stupid. While acknowledging this, there's no doubt that it's far better to live in a world with America rather than China as the dominant power.
Since Biden made his suggestion to Johnson, there hasn't really been any follow-up on the giant infrastructure plan. Biden's administration has announced plans for domestic projects instead. Maybe the international plan won't get up and running, but I hope it does. It's an indication of Biden's intention to bring America back to the global stage, to work together with partners for the betterment of the whole world. Biden's mantra is that “America is back”; it's great to see that after years of harmful American introversion, he's actually taking steps on the international level to return the U.S. to its former internationalist self.
Dr. Scott Shepherd is a British-American academic. He has taught in universities in the U.K. and Korea, and is currently assistant professor of English at Chongshin University in Seoul. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.