It could be said that 2010 marked the US government’s move inexpanding its relationships with smaller nations, and especiallyUS-ASEAN ties.
The US ’s “return” to SoutheastAsia this year saw a rocky start when President Barack Obama finallycould not make a promised tour of Asian nations, including Indonesiaand Australia , after being delayed twice, in March and in June, dueto internal affairs.
In return, President Obamasuccessfully played host of the US-ASEAN Summit in New York in lateSeptember. This was only the second meeting in the history of ASEAN-USrelations, after the first organised in Singapore in November 2009on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forummeeting.
Co-chairing the US-ASEAN Summit togetherwith his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet in his capacity asASEAN Chair, Obama said he considers Asia a “corner stone” in the US’sforeign policy, therefore the nation wants to strengthen relations withformer allies, tighten relations with new partners and reiterate pledgesto cooperate with regional organisations, including the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN.
The USpresident stressed that ASEAN holds potential to really become theworld’s leading bloc, and affirmed his strategy to re-build the US ’sinfluence in the dynamically developing region. Obama also confirmedhis plan to attend the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Jakarta , Indonesia, in 2011.
At the summit, US and ASEAN leadersemphasised the importance of the “settlement of differences throughpeaceful ways” and the “free maritime shipping routes”, including in theEast Sea .
On economic relations, the twosides agreed to expand bilateral trade, which stood at 84 billion USD inthe first half of 2010, a year-on-year increase of 28 percent. The flowof US investments into ASEAN reached 153 billion USD in 2008, whileASEAN’s investments in the US mounted to 13.5 billion USD.
US and ASEAN leaders discussed a wide range of issues related tocounter-terrorism, the fight against drug trafficking and thenon-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Ina joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the ASEAN leadersapplauded the US ’s support for the planned ASEAN Community andConnectivity and promised to cooperate with the US in energy,investment, education, agriculture and culture.
Theyalso emphasised the necessity to maintain the highest-level dialoguesbetween the two sides and agreed to hold the third ASEAN-US Summit nextyear, coinciding with the EAS.
Public opinionand experts say President Barack Obama is steering the US ’s foreignpolicy with Asia “on the right track.”
ThoughPresident Obama “broke his appointment” with Southeast Asia , hissubordinates paid a series of trips to the region in 2010. Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton visited Vietnam twice to attend the ASEANRegional Forum (ARF) in July and the EAS three months later. During thevisits, Clinton met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and herVietnamese counterpart, Pham Gia Khiem to exchange views onWashington-Hanoi relations.
Deputy Assistant to theUS Secretary of State Joseph Yun, who accompanied Clinton during bothvisits to Vietnam, said that these were important and “unusual” tripsbecause the US Secretary of State has rarely made a tour of the samecountry within a year. This shows that Washington attaches importanceto and wants to improve relations with Hanoi .
Clinton also paid a visit to Cambodia – the first of a USSecretary of State in the past seven years. While in Cambodia ,Clinton met Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong, Prime Minister Hun Sen andKing Sihamoni.
The Assistant to the US Secretary ofState for East Asian Affairs, Kurt Campbell, on May 9 called at Myanmar –a nation that is subject to embargo imposed by the US and Europe.
It could be said that the US made a deeper mark on Southeast Asiathis year and ASEAN leaders have been pleased with the first ASEAN-USSummit in 2009 and the US ’s hosting of the second summit in New York.
However, experts said the present atmospherecannot carry the sustainability for the future as the Obama governmentis facing a broad range of issues at home, as well as global urgentmatters related to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iran’s nuclearprogramme, while ASEAN is striving to build a common economic communityand each of the member nations has its own internal challenges.
For the long-term, the US and ASEAN should deeply develop and create astability for their “fledging” relations. It is expected that in 2011,US-ASEAN relations would not just stop at exchanging fine words, butmaterialise into practical actions for mutual benefit./.
The US ’s “return” to SoutheastAsia this year saw a rocky start when President Barack Obama finallycould not make a promised tour of Asian nations, including Indonesiaand Australia , after being delayed twice, in March and in June, dueto internal affairs.
In return, President Obamasuccessfully played host of the US-ASEAN Summit in New York in lateSeptember. This was only the second meeting in the history of ASEAN-USrelations, after the first organised in Singapore in November 2009on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forummeeting.
Co-chairing the US-ASEAN Summit togetherwith his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet in his capacity asASEAN Chair, Obama said he considers Asia a “corner stone” in the US’sforeign policy, therefore the nation wants to strengthen relations withformer allies, tighten relations with new partners and reiterate pledgesto cooperate with regional organisations, including the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN.
The USpresident stressed that ASEAN holds potential to really become theworld’s leading bloc, and affirmed his strategy to re-build the US ’sinfluence in the dynamically developing region. Obama also confirmedhis plan to attend the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Jakarta , Indonesia, in 2011.
At the summit, US and ASEAN leadersemphasised the importance of the “settlement of differences throughpeaceful ways” and the “free maritime shipping routes”, including in theEast Sea .
On economic relations, the twosides agreed to expand bilateral trade, which stood at 84 billion USD inthe first half of 2010, a year-on-year increase of 28 percent. The flowof US investments into ASEAN reached 153 billion USD in 2008, whileASEAN’s investments in the US mounted to 13.5 billion USD.
US and ASEAN leaders discussed a wide range of issues related tocounter-terrorism, the fight against drug trafficking and thenon-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Ina joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the ASEAN leadersapplauded the US ’s support for the planned ASEAN Community andConnectivity and promised to cooperate with the US in energy,investment, education, agriculture and culture.
Theyalso emphasised the necessity to maintain the highest-level dialoguesbetween the two sides and agreed to hold the third ASEAN-US Summit nextyear, coinciding with the EAS.
Public opinionand experts say President Barack Obama is steering the US ’s foreignpolicy with Asia “on the right track.”
ThoughPresident Obama “broke his appointment” with Southeast Asia , hissubordinates paid a series of trips to the region in 2010. Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton visited Vietnam twice to attend the ASEANRegional Forum (ARF) in July and the EAS three months later. During thevisits, Clinton met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and herVietnamese counterpart, Pham Gia Khiem to exchange views onWashington-Hanoi relations.
Deputy Assistant to theUS Secretary of State Joseph Yun, who accompanied Clinton during bothvisits to Vietnam, said that these were important and “unusual” tripsbecause the US Secretary of State has rarely made a tour of the samecountry within a year. This shows that Washington attaches importanceto and wants to improve relations with Hanoi .
Clinton also paid a visit to Cambodia – the first of a USSecretary of State in the past seven years. While in Cambodia ,Clinton met Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong, Prime Minister Hun Sen andKing Sihamoni.
The Assistant to the US Secretary ofState for East Asian Affairs, Kurt Campbell, on May 9 called at Myanmar –a nation that is subject to embargo imposed by the US and Europe.
It could be said that the US made a deeper mark on Southeast Asiathis year and ASEAN leaders have been pleased with the first ASEAN-USSummit in 2009 and the US ’s hosting of the second summit in New York.
However, experts said the present atmospherecannot carry the sustainability for the future as the Obama governmentis facing a broad range of issues at home, as well as global urgentmatters related to Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iran’s nuclearprogramme, while ASEAN is striving to build a common economic communityand each of the member nations has its own internal challenges.
For the long-term, the US and ASEAN should deeply develop and create astability for their “fledging” relations. It is expected that in 2011,US-ASEAN relations would not just stop at exchanging fine words, butmaterialise into practical actions for mutual benefit./.
