It was hardly a secret throughout the Trump administration. Now, as dying embers are within sight and with minimum fanfare, comes the declassification – virtually the whole document, minus a few redactions – of the 2018 US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific.

Why now, no fewer than 30 years before the usual standard US declassification for public record protocols apply? Don’t expect an answer from Trump or from his National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.

O’Brien’s premise in presenting the declassification is that “Beijing is increasingly pressuring Indo-Pacific nations to subordinate their freedom and sovereignty to a ‘common destiny’ envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party.”