Letter From the Editors

When U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in November 2016, he was congratulated by leaders from around the world, including Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Two years later and Turnbull and Sharif are both gone, the former ousted by an intra-party coup and the latter by judicial fiat – behind which many see the invisible hand of the Pakistan military. Meanwhile, Tsai and Trump are each staring down the crucial test of midterm elections. As if that weren’t enough, both presidents have to reckon with foreign disinformation campaigns designed to sow discord and confusion among their domestic populaces.

Welcome to the turbulent world of Asia-Pacific (or should we say Indo-Pacific?) politics.

In November, Asia’s leaders will gather for the annual gamut of summitry, but Trump won’t be among them. Two years since his shock election, what has become of Trump’s Asia policy? In our cover story this month, Abigail Grace, a research associate with the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, charts the course of Trump’s Asia policy, from summits and surprising progress on the Korean Peninsula to an increasingly antagonistic relationship with China and stagnation on the promised bevy of bilateral free trade agreements. In typical Trumpian fashion, U.S. Asia policy has moved ahead with disregard for norms and convention, but is “creative destruction” really the best course for the United States in Asia?

In Pakistan, another powerful figure is also marking two years at the head of a formidable organization: Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. As Mohammad Taqi, a Pakistani-American columnist, writes, Bajwa began his time at the top of Pakistan’s all-powerful military apparatus with news clips declaring him more moderate than his predecessors. But two years in, Bajwa has solidified the place of the Pakistani army as the paramount arbiter of power in the country, with Nawaz Sharif gone from the prime ministership and a more military-friendly figure, Imran Khan, in his place. That’s the culmination, Taqi writes, of an indirect military coup.

Australia’s newest prime minister, Scott Morrison, may not make it to two years, as federal elections are due in 2019. With six top leaders inside the last decade, as Daniel Flitton, managing editor of the Lowy Institute’s international magazine, The Interpreter, notes, Australia’s turbulent domestic politics has long monopolized the attention of its leaders. But Morrison, soon to hit the Asian summit circuit, will have an opportunity to put his brand on Canberra’s foreign policy. What can we expect from the Morrison Way?

Taiwan will be having its own local elections toward the end of this month. Ahead of the polls, Taiwan – like other democracies around the world – is struggling to combat disinformation campaigns from abroad that are designed to interfere in domestic politics. In Taiwan’s case, false messages are being spread on social media by the island’s chief security threat: China. Taipei-based journalist Nick Aspinwall takes a closer look at how Taiwan is managing the fight against disinformation this election season and beyond, while also striving to protect hard-won freedom of speech.

We hope you enjoy these stories, and the many more in the following pages.