Dr. Victor Cha testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
America’s Indo-Pacific alliances are vital to U.S. security and economic interests, including countering Beijing’s influence, Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Fellow at the George W. Bush Institute, said last week in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Indo-Pacific stretches from the United States’ Pacific coastline to the Indian Ocean and is home to nearly two-thirds of global economic growth. Continuing to build strong relationships in the region is critical to protecting the U.S. economy and national security, Cha argued. Our regional alliances extend U.S. national interests and power with nations like Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, largely through 24 permanent military bases and 20 other military sites. This constant presence works to deter actors like China and in turn promotes economic growth for the United States and the Indo-Pacific by ensuring continuing peace and stability in the region.
These relationships have become even more important as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (CRINK) have ramped up their cooperation to undermine U.S. global leadership in recent years. The authoritarian axis of CRINK poses a significant threat to the U.S.-led global order and consequently the decades of relative peace and security it brought about. To meet this challenge, Cha recommended that these Indo-Pacific alliances, such as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the Philippines, adapt to meet the changing geostrategic environment. He further emphasized the importance of burden-sharing to the security of both the United States and its allies.
Specifically, Cha noted that the unprovoked, full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine put U.S. Indo-Pacific allies on high alert to potential threats of conflict in Asia as well – primarily posed by China and North Korea. The North Korea-Russia mutual defense pact signed in 2024 has facilitated Pyongyang’s continuous contribution of ammunition and troops to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. Meanwhile, Moscow and Beijing have maintained a close relationship, declaring a “no limits” partnership directly before the full-scale Ukrainian invasion in 2022.
These developments could be the impetus for repositioning alliances in the Pacific toward more regionally effective deterrence against Beijing and Pyongyang. Cha suggested that such efforts should be comprehensive and reach beyond military cooperation to include other areas such as economic security, export controls, and supply chains.
Like Cha, the George W. Bush Institute’s 2025 policy recommendations on countering CRINK also emphasize the importance of democratic alliances to U.S. national interests. They encourage Washington to find alternative ways to partner with U.S. allies as an effective strategy to combat CRINK ambitions in the region.
Critically, any such efforts should be coupled with a serious commitment to integrating shared democratic values and protecting human rights within a comprehensive security strategy. For example, Washington should use its leadership role in NATO to bridge the divide between European and Indo-Pacific democracy and human rights interests. This would bring democracies across Europe and Asia together to respond to the mutual threat of CRINK.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine coupled with the indecision from the West on a strategy to stop Russian aggression in Europe has opened the United States and its Indo-Pacific allies to increased threats from CRINK. China’s leader President Xi Jinping, for instance, is watching what happens in Ukraine closely, as he considers action against Taiwan.
CRINK presents a significant challenge to U.S. security and economic interests. Building on and reinforcing democratic alliances in the Indo-Pacific around the ideas of human rights and security will be important to counteracting CRINK influence and protecting the U.S.- led global order.
