‘Last adult’ James Mattis leaves the room: what next for Asia?
- Political analysts say the next US defence secretary is likely to echo Trump’s convention-busting ‘America first’ foreign policy
The resignation of United States Defence Secretary James Mattis, the so-called last adult in the room in the Trump administration, has plunged the future of the decades-old security balance in Asia into doubt.
Mattis’ exit, after nearly two years defending the rules-based international order that underpinned a widespread consensus on defence policy until Donald Trump’s election, casts uncertainty over the US presence in the region and its alliances with partners such as South Korea and Japan.
“Mattis’ departure will leave many US partners and allies in Asia feeling as if the most important symbol of foreign policy continuity from the pre-Trump era to the present has left,” said Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists. “They won’t be wrong about that.”
Mattis’ resignation on Thursday followed President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria, seemingly the final straw in a relationship that was a study in contrasts between the retired four-star general and a commander-in-chief who avoided military service.
Mattis, 68, made his opinion plain in his resignation letter to the president: “You have the right to a Secretary of Defence whose views are better aligned with yours.”
Amid the upheaval of Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy, Mattis, who commanded marines during the 1991 Gulf war and 2003 invasion of Iraq, was widely seen as steadfastly committed to US relationships in Asia.
