20-09-2010
US, Asean to forge strategic ties
The United States and Asean will initiate steps this week to forge a strategic partnership, a move that will further boost the Obama administration's renewed engagement with the region.
Leaders of the 10 Asean countries and US President Barack Obama are to meet in New York on Friday for their second-ever summit. The inaugural US-Asean Summit was held in Singapore last year.
The leaders will announce the setting up of a top advisory panel, called the 'eminent persons group', that will provide recommendations for the breadth and scope of the strategic partnership. Previously, Asean had also embarked on similar partnerships with China, Japan, and South Korea.
"(The US-Asean strategic partnership) will encompass a long-term vision and aspirations that could include economic, political or security and technical assistance aspects," said Singapore's Ambassador to the US, professor Chan Heng Chee.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, she noted that it was important to formalise the US-Asean relationship even if Washington already had wide-ranging links to the region.
"It is putting a signature on a relationship, and it is a statement about the importance of the relationship," she said.
Singapore first mooted the idea of a US-Asean Summit in 2007, to mark the 30th anniversary of Washington's formal ties with the regional grouping and also to address the need for a common forum between the top leaders of Asean and the US.
However, Burma's human rights record was a sticking point for the Bush administration then. The summit finally went ahead when Obama took office last year, with the White House signalling that it would not let the Burma issue hinder better relations with Asean.
"It is important to have a meeting at the highest political level... where you really can push for policy, goals and objectives," said Chan.
As to whether a US-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) would be discussed at the upcoming summit, Chan pointed out that she did not sense a great appetite for FTAs in Washington at the moment.
Trade experts here also believe that the US is currently more focused on developing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Asia-Pacific-wide trade agreement that includes some Asean countries like Brunei and Singapore.
Nonetheless, Asean would stress during this week's summit that it was important that Obama actively picked up the trade agenda again.
"The Obama administration's policy on Asia has been good. But there is one area where many Asian countries find the US dragging its feet, and that is in trade," said Chan.
Security issues are also expected to be a major concern, including the heated territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
But analysts here do not expect them to dominate the summit, saying that the leaders would likely focus on the big picture rather than a single issue.
Observers are also expecting Indonesia, which has been holding workshops to resolve the South China Sea disputes, to play a more active role in mediation than the US.
Visiting Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said at a public forum here last Friday: "We've been trying to facilitate a dialogue between the claimant states with this South China Sea workshop series.
"When Indonesia assumes chairmanship of Asean in 2011, that will certainly be among my highest priorities."
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=14393&sec=1
US, Asean to forge strategic ties
The United States and Asean will initiate steps this week to forge a strategic partnership, a move that will further boost the Obama administration's renewed engagement with the region.
Leaders of the 10 Asean countries and US President Barack Obama are to meet in New York on Friday for their second-ever summit. The inaugural US-Asean Summit was held in Singapore last year.
The leaders will announce the setting up of a top advisory panel, called the 'eminent persons group', that will provide recommendations for the breadth and scope of the strategic partnership. Previously, Asean had also embarked on similar partnerships with China, Japan, and South Korea.
"(The US-Asean strategic partnership) will encompass a long-term vision and aspirations that could include economic, political or security and technical assistance aspects," said Singapore's Ambassador to the US, professor Chan Heng Chee.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, she noted that it was important to formalise the US-Asean relationship even if Washington already had wide-ranging links to the region.
"It is putting a signature on a relationship, and it is a statement about the importance of the relationship," she said.
Singapore first mooted the idea of a US-Asean Summit in 2007, to mark the 30th anniversary of Washington's formal ties with the regional grouping and also to address the need for a common forum between the top leaders of Asean and the US.
However, Burma's human rights record was a sticking point for the Bush administration then. The summit finally went ahead when Obama took office last year, with the White House signalling that it would not let the Burma issue hinder better relations with Asean.
"It is important to have a meeting at the highest political level... where you really can push for policy, goals and objectives," said Chan.
As to whether a US-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) would be discussed at the upcoming summit, Chan pointed out that she did not sense a great appetite for FTAs in Washington at the moment.
Trade experts here also believe that the US is currently more focused on developing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Asia-Pacific-wide trade agreement that includes some Asean countries like Brunei and Singapore.
Nonetheless, Asean would stress during this week's summit that it was important that Obama actively picked up the trade agenda again.
"The Obama administration's policy on Asia has been good. But there is one area where many Asian countries find the US dragging its feet, and that is in trade," said Chan.
Security issues are also expected to be a major concern, including the heated territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
But analysts here do not expect them to dominate the summit, saying that the leaders would likely focus on the big picture rather than a single issue.
Observers are also expecting Indonesia, which has been holding workshops to resolve the South China Sea disputes, to play a more active role in mediation than the US.
Visiting Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said at a public forum here last Friday: "We've been trying to facilitate a dialogue between the claimant states with this South China Sea workshop series.
"When Indonesia assumes chairmanship of Asean in 2011, that will certainly be among my highest priorities."
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=14393&sec=1
