Beyond the hegemonic horizon: A third path for Asia–Pacific nations in the post-USAID era

The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in early 2025 has created a profound vacuum in development assistance across Asia and the Pacific. Predictably, observers have pointed to China and Russia as the powers most likely to fill that vacuum—through expanded Belt and Road lending, military partnerships, and the infrastructure of what Beijing calls “win–win cooperation.” This article rejects both the American model that has now collapsed and the Sino–Russian alternative as adequate frameworks for Asia–Pacific development. It argues instead for a third path grounded in multi-lateral solidarity, middle-power partnerships, and locally led cooperation. Drawing on the experiences of Australia, Canada, and the European Union as development partners, and on emerging models of South–South and regional cooperation within the Asia–Pacific itself, the article identifies the institutional foundations of a development approach that prioritizes equity, genuine partnership, and long-term resilience over geopolitical instrumentalization. The argument is not nostalgic: it does not seek to restore USAID or the Washington Consensus frameworks it embodied. It seeks, rather, to compost them—to extract what was generative from decades of development engagement and to grow something more honest, more durable, and more just.