US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joe Dunford has arrived in Bangkok to emphasize that America is “not a declining power” and its intention to improve military relations with Thailand’s armed forces, which seized political control in a mid-2014 coup. Washington is also considering boosting infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific to counter Beijing’s growing global clout through its “Belt and Road Initiative”, observers say, after last month’s Congress hearing on a policy response to the plan. Despite President Donald Trump’s promise to adopt an America First foreign policy, US policies in East Asia — on issues from trade, to diplomatic engagement, to the North Korean nuclear crisis — now more closely resemble those of Trump’s predecessors than his campaign vision, writes Aaron L. Connelly for the Lowy Institute.