'Not hawkish or dovish': 5 key things for Asia in Trump's new national security policy

Last week, the US President Donald Trump’s government released the country’s new National Security Strategy (NSS), which laid out America’s policies towards other nations in a turbulent time. In this policy, Asia is being seen as a priority theatre for the US.

Experts believe that the strategy departs from some traditional American foreign policy staples. In the 29-page document released with little fanfare on Dec 4, the White House called it an America-first policy that is principled without being “idealistic”, muscular without being “hawkish”, and restrained without being “dovish”.

While it keeps the Western Hemisphere as America’s highest priority, it also appears keen on developments in Asia, especially American interest in China’s spiralling investments and influence. The United States must be pre-eminent in the Western Hemisphere as a condition of our security and prosperity,” the document said.

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“The terms of our alliances, and the terms upon which we provide any kind of aid, must be contingent on winding down adversarial outside influence – from control of military installations, ports, and key infrastructure to the purchase of strategic assets broadly defined,” it says, without naming China explicitly. Here are five key things Trump’s NSS has in store for Asia.

1 Priority on interest

The document reflected a shrinkage of US foreign policy ambitions in Asia. Trump has dropped the post-Cold War goal of “permanent American domination of the entire world” because this is a “fundamentally undesirable and impossible goal”.

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Not only this, but he also discarded its push for democracy, which has been a core aspect of US diplomacy for at least 50 years. Instead of this, the new NSS emphasises that shared values are not needed as a precondition for partnership in Asia and most of the world.

2 Going light on China

It is pertinent to note that Trump’s first national security strategy was released back in 2017, labelling China as a “strategic revisionist power” seeking to displace the US in the Indo-Pacific through military expansion, unfair trade practices and the export of its authoritarian model.

However, a similar hawkish approach is missing in the new security strategy. The latest NSS casts China as more of a potential economic partner than an adversary and wishes to pursue “a genuinely mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing”.

“Rather than describing the scope and scale of China’s systemic challenge to the US and our allies and partners, the 2025 NSS makes clear that economics are ‘the ultimate stakes’,” wrote Rebecca Lissner, a leading scholar of American grand strategy, in a commentary for the Council on Foreign Relations, where she is a senior fellow.

3 The Taiwan question 

The strategy also noted that the US wants to prevent a war in the Indo-Pacific region, which was seen as a reference to growing tensions between China and US ally Japan over Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own.

On November 7, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could be an existential threat that triggers a military response from Tokyo, igniting anger in China.

In light of this, the new US strategy spells out the need to deter conflict over Taiwan by rejecting any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and preserving a “military overmatch”. Interestingly, while the US has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

The doccument also emphasised the economic and strategic reasons to deal with Taiwan delicately. “There is, rightly, much focus on Taiwan, partly because of Taiwan’s dominance of semiconductor production, but mostly because Taiwan provides direct access to the Second Island Chain and splits North-east and South-east Asia into two distinct theatres,” the strategy said.

4 Quad’s significance 

In the NSS, the Trump administration paints Indo-Pacific as a vital arena which already is, and will be, the next century’s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds. “To thrive at home, we must successfully compete there – and we are,” the doccument said.

The strategy aims at keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, preserving freedom of navigation in all crucial sea lanes, and maintaining secure and reliable supply chains and access to critical materials.

5 Focus on the economy

The report maintained that the US is no longer eyeing world domination. It instead stresses preserving secure supply chains and access to raw materials, as well as protecting US export markets.

It also calls for the need for a strong defence-industrial and manufacturing base to sustain military balance and stay ahead in artificial intelligence, quantum and supercomputing. “All our embassies must be aware of major business opportunities in their country, especially major government contracts,” the strategy said.

“Every US government official who interacts with these countries should understand that part of their job is to help American companies compete and succeed," it added.

Overall, the Trump administration’s NSS marks a significant shift from the stratergies the Trump administration laid out in the past.