The Foreign Service Journal, November 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2021 73 FEATURE APartnership- CenteredApproach TOTHE INDO-PACIFIC To maintain peace and prosperity in the trans-Pacific and beyond, the United States should rely on a proven strength. BY JONATHAN AHLSTROM Jonathan Ahlstrom, a U.S. Navy commander, is currently commanding officer of the USS Columbus (SSN 762), a nuclear attack submarine based at Newport News, Virginia. He was previously a White House Fellow assigned to the U.S. Agency for International Development. He lives in Yorktown, Virginia. N estled in a corner of the joint Naval and Air Force base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, a small restaurant overlooks the turquoise channel of water as it makes its final push from Pearl Harbor to the Pacific Ocean. From there, one often sees the silhouette of a submarine gliding peacefully through the water—a small intrusion on the calm sur- face. One day, on one submarine, however, the flag flying proudly on the sail does not show the stars and stripes, but instead a single red circle resting on a white backdrop—a rising sun. The gravity of the moment might initially escape an observer as the submarine sails past the memorialized site of the battle- ship USS Arizona , whose sailors remain forever entombed in their watery grave following the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. An observer might not understand the significance of the submarine sailing on past the looming silhouette of the battleship USS Missouri , whose decks served as a backdrop to Japan’s unconditional surrender after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Looking closer, one would see the single most powerful aspect of the entire event: An American and a Japanese naval officer, once mortal enemies, sit beside each other on the submarine’s sail, smiling, talking and exchanging stories as they head out for regular joint undersea operations to ensure peace and prosperity in the western Pacific. The Japanese American story captures the essence of one of the United States’ greatest strategic advantages: the ability to build enduring partnerships with other countries. This ability is extremely important today in the context of rivalry with China, a growing great power that is capable of shifting the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region in its favor. Though we are far from the days of the Chinese emperors, China’s approach to partnership-building maintains an element of cultivating vassals, not partners. This approach misses the con- nective tissue that forms between nations working toward shared common interests, and often employs leverage rather than