The War in Gaza and Southeast Asia
The U.S. always underestimates how damaging its destructive policies in the Middle East are to its interests in other parts of the world.
Lynn Kuok discusses the results of a new survey of Southeast Asian elite opinion. She notes that the U.S. is losing the most ground in predominantly Muslim countries in the region and the war in Gaza seems to be a major reason why:
The United States has lost support most dramatically in countries with Muslim majorities. The 2024 survey revealed an especially sharp hardening of sentiment from 2023. Seventy-five percent of Malaysian, 73 percent of Indonesian, and 70 percent of Bruneian respondents surveyed said they would prefer alignment with China over the United States, compared with 55 percent, 54 percent, and 55 percent in 2023, respectively. The survey did not ask respondents why they made this selection. But it is telling that when a different question asked respondents to select their top three geopolitical concerns, nearly half ranked the Israel-Hamas conflict at the very top, surpassing the 40 percent that ranked the more geographically proximate South China Sea dispute most highly.
The United States’ strong support for Israel likely tipped the scales in favor of China.
It was clear early on that unconditional U.S. backing for the war would hurt American influence in Southeast Asia and beyond. When Biden met with leaders from these countries, they would bring up the war and press Biden to bring it to an end. Indonesian President Widodo pleaded with Biden to secure a ceasefire “for the sake of humanity” almost ten months ago, and Biden had nothing to say in response. That dismissive attitude combined with ongoing support for an atrocious war have cost the U.S. quite a bit of support in some of these countries. The U.S. always underestimates how damaging its destructive policies in the Middle East are to its interests in other parts of the world because our leaders can’t or won’t see how those policies look to people in other countries.