Letter From the Editor

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the October 2017 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

This month we revisit and reassess a series of assumptions: That the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency would mean Asia’s abandonment; that the Philippines armed forces were up to the task of handling the latest wave of Islamist terrorism in their midst; that the ascension of a new king in Thailand would be a turbulent process; and that Pakistan can maintain balance in its diplomatic relations in the Middle East.

In our cover story, Euan Graham, director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, assesses U.S. Asia policy since Donald Trump assumed the presidency in Washington. With Trump scheduled to attend a host of regional multilateral forums in November – in Vietnam and the Philippines, with a side trip to China rumored to be in the works – the time has come to revisit the assumption that Trump’s election last November would lead to the abandonment of Asia. As Graham writes, American priorities in the region remain clear as ever, but questions linger about the administration's overall strategy.

Since late May, the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been engaged in Marawi, on the island of Mindanao, battling Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants with ties to the Islamic State. In the more than four months since, martial law has been extended across the island of Mindanao; 147 members of the security forces, 45 civilians, and more than 650 militants have been killed; and Marawi has been reduced to rubble. Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College, argues in his piece that the “situation never should have gotten this bad, and it’s likely to get worse.”

Next, we turn to Thailand a year after the death of King Bhumipol. His son, Vajiralongkorn, has since acceded to the throne with none of the turbulence some had feared. The new king has made it clear that he intends to reign as a neoabsolutist ruler, Andrew Grant (a pseudonym for a Thailand expert), writes. Grant explains the machinations of Thailand’s deep state and the institutional symbiosis between the monarchy and the military.

Then Huma Yusuf, a columnist for Pakistan's Dawn newspaper and a Wilson Center global fellow, lays out the precarious balance Islamabad maintains in the Middle East. Pakistan’s security relations with the Gulf states, she writes, are as much about security as it they are about economics. With old rivalries and new crises churning the Middle East, Pakistan’s balancing act becomes more difficult to maintain.

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many others awaiting you in the following pages.

Sincerely,
Catherine Putz