Dossier
Ely Ratner
Coverage of Ely Ratner in the Nexus archive.
- A Formal Defense Pact in the Indo-Pacific Is the Wrong Answer
Ely Ratner, a former senior defense official in the Biden administration, has proposed a "Pacific Defense Pact" — a legally binding multilateral treaty among the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines to deter China in the western Pacific. While the diagnosis of existing alliance weaknesses is sound, the article argues this formal pact approach is the wrong solution.