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China Seizes an Opportunity from the United States in Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Response
In early March, former USAID China Advisor Francisco Bencosme warned that withdrawing disaster relief and food aid risked undermining the United States’ power and influence in the Pacific Region. Indeed, over the last month, the United States’ strategic competitors have begun to fill the $54+ billion aid shortfall caused by that retreat.
While the humanitarian toll of the USAID withdrawal is severe – fueling preventable deaths, global health risks, conflict, and inequality – it also threatens US national security interests. The dissolution of USAID has created a soft power vacuum in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific for China to easily fill.
The Chinese government has long used foreign aid and investments via the Belt and Road Initiative to gain strategic influence in Africa, Asia, and South America. However, it had to navigate existing US investments and partnerships. Now, with US resources gone, China has the opportunity to bolster its geostrategic interests – and outcompete the United States.
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The United States Risks Undermining Its Pacific Power By Withdrawing Disaster Relief and Food Security Support
By Francisco Bencosme
On 5 March, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs held a hearing titled “Examining the Office of Insular Affairs’ Role in Fostering Prosperity in the Pacific Territories and Addressing External Threats to Peace and Security.” This article is based on Francisco Bencosme’s written testimony focused on transnational crises like climate change undermining Pacific peace and security. Bencosme served as the China Policy Lead at USAID until January 2025.
The United States is at risk of ceding its influence in the Pacific Islands and repeating the mistakes it failed to learn after World War II. Our partners in the Pacific are calling it our “yo-yo” policy towards the region. The United States spent the last six years saying it would intensify our engagement in a crucial national security region, and we did so, only to now pull back US presence on the ground and self-sabotage American influence. Gutting foreign assistance limits our ability to influence and address challenges in the Pacific, especially climate change, disaster response, and food security, key areas of strategic competition.
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USAID Provides Critical Benefits to US National Security
The Trump Administration’s effort to try to shut down USAID and pause all foreign aid directly harms US national security, including by interrupting critical investments into resilience, adaptation, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding. In 2021, 79 senior national security leaders, including 8 retired 4-star generals and admirals, a former Director of National Intelligence, and a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, signed the Challenge Accepted report, which argued that USAID investments in resilience and adaptation were critical to preventing instability and conflict and maintaining the US competitive edge with China.
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Security and climate change implications for humanitarian, development and peace-building programmes in Somalia
As part of the project ‘Catalysing cohesive action on climate and security: bridging silos for enhanced humanitarian action’ for USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, ODI and the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) hosted a workshop 3–4 October 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss challenges and opportunities across climate adaptation, security, development and humanitarian aid to deliver climate-resilient development.
The project aims to develop policy recommendations to make humanitarian assistance more sensitive to long-term climate risk and security dynamics. A group of select and highly experienced stakeholders with interests in Somalia were brought together to explore how actors can take more coordinated, coherent approaches that meet immediate needs while also contributing to longer-term climate resilience and stability, and strengthen the use of conflict and climate risk assessment to make investments and actions more effective.
