President Donald Trump’s enthusiastic public endorsement of the agreement adds another dimension. Trump welcomed the pact as a “BIG, BOLD, AND IMPORTANT FIRST STEP,” presenting it as evidence that regional countries were increasingly able to contribute meaningfully to their own defence. His reaction can reasonably be interpreted as American acceptance of greater regional burden-sharing rather than evidence that every assertion of strategic agency by longstanding partners must challenge Washington.

Yet such endorsement inevitably creates another perception. Critics may interpret American enthusiasm as evidence that the emerging pact is not genuinely autonomous but merely an American-sponsored or American-blessed extension of the existing security architecture. Trump’s endorsement itself establishes no such sponsorship, but perceptions in international politics can acquire strategic consequences independent of intentions.

The strongest response should therefore come not through rhetorical assertions of independence but through the future conduct of the pact. Makkah should demonstrate its strategic autonomy through its inclusiveness. It can maintain constructive relationships with Washington, Beijing and other global powers without becoming an instrument of any one of them. American approval need not imply American ownership, just as strategic autonomy need not imply........

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