Stay up-to-date with free updatesSign up for the US foreign policy myFT Digest — delivered straight to your inbox.The White House has made the decision not to appoint a successor to its top Asia expert, which has raised concerns among some allies. This move comes at a time when the US has been working to rally countries to counter China. Kurt Campbell, the former Asia tsar in the Biden administration, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday as the new deputy secretary of state, broadening his foreign affairs responsibilities beyond the Indo-Pacific region. Several sources familiar with the decision stated that the White House will not name a new Indo-Pacific coordinator, a position that was created in 2021 to sharpen the US focus on China as its primary strategic concern. The decision not to fill the role comes as US allies are concerned that the US’s attention on China might be overshadowed by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the upcoming presidential race in 2024. Officials from several US allies and experts have expressed nervousness about losing Campbell, whose extensive diplomacy with ambassadors in Washington has provided significant attention and access to allies in the Indo-Pacific. Dennis Wilder, a former top White House Asia adviser, mentioned that “Allies in the Indo-Pacific. . . have had extraordinary White House attention and access because of Kurt. Kurt will not be able to sustain this level of attention from the state department and he will have other priorities.” Campbell played a key role in the Aukus defense pact between the US, the UK, and Australia, which facilitated Australia’s acquisition of nuclear submarines, as well as the revitalization of the “Quad”, bringing India closer to the US, Japan, and Australia. He also played a crucial part in persuading the leaders of Japan and South Korea to move past their differences over Japan’s wartime conduct and attend a historic trilateral summit with the US at Camp David. President Emmanuel Macron of France was the only non-Asian leader to secure a state visit to the US in the past three years. Campbell has assured diplomats that he will still be able to focus on Asia, but some officials have doubts. A foreign official mentioned, “Given the immediate electoral impact of all the other crises around the world, not having an Indo-Pacific coordinator will make it challenging to keep eyes on the pacing threat.” A former US official stated that Japan and South Korea would lose some of the exceptional access they had to Campbell at the White House. However, this former official dismissed concerns of a vacuum and loss of focus on Asia in the White House as exaggerated. A White House official stated that Campbell would “continue to play a prominent role on the Indo-Pacific” at the state department and that the US had “seasoned teams” working on the issues. She added that Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, had created the role for Campbell, implying that it was not intended to be permanent. Some experts argued that it was less crucial to have Campbell at the White House as the administration shifts its focus to implementing his initiatives. Campbell also played a crucial role in persuading European countries to play a larger role in the Indo-Pacific despite warnings from China, raising concerns about the message conveyed by his departure to Europe. Evan Medeiros, former top White House Asia adviser to Barack Obama, expressed, “White House leadership on Asia has been indispensable. That’s now lost and is not being replaced. This is producing huge amounts of anxiety among allies in Asia and Europe. We coaxed Europe into Asia and now we are leaving them at the altar.”
