The United States’ Policy of Counterbalancing China: Constraints and Implications

The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as the central playing field of the US and China strategic competition. The US views China as the competitor undermining the US regional influence in the Asia-Pacific region. This paper explores the US-China strategic competition, layers of instability in the Asia-Pacific, and specifically the constraints for the US in its Indo-Pacific Strategy and security implications for the region. The US National Security Strategy - 2022 strategises to counterbalance China by constructing regional deterrence infrastructure by strengthening its long-standing alliances and building new partnerships such as the QUAD and AUKUS, and is also cementing ties with the ASEAN. In order to avert crisis escalation in the Asia-Pacific region, the US and China bilaterally and the regional states, as crucial stakeholders, would require to carefully manage their roles and strategies in the ongoing competition for world order determination.