Mohan Malik on Trump, Asia, and the Legacy of the Global War on Terror

Mohan Malik is a veteran China-Asia analyst and military strategist who has advised senior brass on geopolitics at the U.S. Defense Department’s Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies and is a former director of Defence Studies at Deakin University in Australia.

Malik spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt, his former student, about how China, Asia, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are shaping up as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares for the mid-term elections and as the world marks 25 years since the 9/11 attacks that spawned the Global War on Terror.

Also known as the 9/11 Wars, the Global War on Terror ended with the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan five years ago. Left behind was a vastly different geopolitical landscape, whose ramifications have continued to influence diplomacy in China, Asia, and ASEAN to this day.

ASEAN is divided between maritime and mainland countries but also by religion, mainly Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, and Malik says they are still confronted by major problems. But some nations emerged from the 9/11 Wars stronger than others.

“Thailand, Indonesia, and India in South Asia, to some extent Sri Lanka to Bangladesh have done relatively better, they have been able to manage, contain the threat of domestic terrorism,” he said.

China also emerged in a stronger position and is now facing headwinds from the Trump administration and perhaps ASEAN, which wants to finalize its Code of Conduct in the South China Sea with Beijing by the end of this year.

“Even if Code of Conduct is concluded it’s not going to stop China’s creation of artificial islands and militarization of those artificial islands,” Malik said.

“It’s going to provide greater legitimacy to China’s efforts to subdue Southeast Asian countries and other rival claimants to the South China Sea.”