Private American citizens and companies donate money out of a sense of altruism, and American businesses invest money abroad that has a positive economic effect for both the country being invested in and the American company. The U.S. federal government, on the other hand, is funded by and responsible to American taxpayers and should use foreign assistance only as a tool of statecraft to pursue the national interests of the United States. Foreign assistance should therefore focus on strategic competition with the primary competitor of the United States: the People’s Republic of China. Southeast Asia is a logical place for this tool of statecraft to be leveraged in competition with China.