And while I normatively like the idea of a values-centered US foreign policy re: PRC, analytically I’m more skeptical - sources of pushback in these countries include xenophobia and racism, authoritarian regimes, and illiberal or personalistic governments playing their own games https://twitter.com/pstanpolitics/status/1343778283037589504

Which then gets you into a much more uncomfortable world with a lot of trade offs - playing ball with Vietnam, pushing PRC skepticism that aligns with nasty anti-ethnic Chinese bigots in Indonesia, looking to the tatmadaw as an FP influencer, cozying up to Sheikh Hasina etc.

No takeaway here except that I think there may be more trade-offs and messiness than sometimes is fully articulated in discussions of US strategy that perhaps tend toward an “all good things go together” style, skimming over what is going on in a lot of “like-minded partners”