Several observers have expressed disappointment at Asia’s “weak” response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including by ASEAN, India and Indonesia.
My old friend and astute observer of regional affairs, Brad Glosserman, added his voice in these pages recently. He noted that in the U.N. General Assembly’s overwhelming condemnation of Russia, many Asian countries — Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam — chose to abstain.
Let me stipulate upfront that Russia’s actions are illegal, immoral and possibly amount to war crimes. That will be of little consolation if Ukraine is reduced to ashes with tens of thousands killed or the world is incinerated in a nuclear war. Deleterious consequences for Australia, India and Japan include U.S. and European distraction from the Indo-Pacific, a stronger Moscow–Beijing axis and China as the big strategic victor of the NATO–Russia clash.