By South China Morning Post | Created at 2026-08-15 12:21:57 | Updated at 2026-08-15 13:10:32
1 hour ago
Washington may be ‘toning down’ its China rhetoric and seeking deterrence via allied capacity, but observers warn of deeper polarisation
Published: 8:00pm, 15 Aug 2026
The US push to
promote “burden sharing” among its allies in the Indo-Pacific has seen it focusing on increasing its military capacity while lowering the political temperature in an effort to reassure its allies.
But some analysts have questioned its chances of succeeding, arguing that this deterrence strategy has intensified great power rivalry and polarisation in the region, while driving deeper bilateral cooperation between China and Russia on the one hand and Russia and North Korea on the other.
During a recent tour of Southeast Asia, defence undersecretary for policy Elbridge Colby told a forum in the Philippines that the United States was looking for “partners, not protectorates” and urged its allies to boost defence spending.
The message was echoed at an online press briefing on Thursday, when he said that instead of shaping the US military for regime change, Washington was prioritising “burden sharing” now that it realised its allies “can and are prepared to do more”.
Colby also visited Thailand, Indonesia, and Cambodia during his visit, vowing to deepen security ties with each nation.
His comments suggested that the US would keep its security guarantees in place, but wanted allies to improve their ability to conduct air defence, anti-ship and reconnaissance operations, while utilising base structural capacity to provide logistics support, according to Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy.
