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Close ties between the US and ASEAN

By Ioan Voicu - posted Tuesday, 6 June 2006


Some examples of this partnership are relevant for their topicality: recognition of the importance of non-proliferation in all aspects of nuclear weapons in South-East Asia; co-operation on disaster management; enhancing ASEAN's regional energy infrastructure; and deepening co-operation in science, technology, information, communications technology and education. The ASEAN foreign ministers and the US Secretary of State are developing a Plan of Action to implement the Enhanced Partnership, as it must continuously be adapted to new dynamics and realities.

ASEAN's representatives expressed the wish that the US becomes an important strategic economic and development partner as much as it is an important diplomatic partner. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this year that the US was eager to work with ASEAN through this new Enhanced Partnership. The US is strengthening its partnership with ASEAN also through structures like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the ARF, to confront current global threats.

The US is working to conclude Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in South-East Asia. It signed one with Singapore, has ongoing talks with Thailand, and began negotiations with Malaysia. These are important steps towards a free trade community. Malaysia is the 10th largest trading partner with the US. The proposed FTA would diversify the range of exports from Malaysia and help it become a more knowledge-based and technology-intensive economy.

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Transformational diplomacy

There are further promising signs. The US took steps to enhance ties with ASEAN countries, conforming to their objectives of transformational diplomacy being promoted at regular, public and summit levels. That means the US is preparing to work with its partners to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people and will conduct themselves responsibly in the international arena.

It has been emphasised at the highest professional and political level that transformational diplomacy is rooted in partnership, not in paternalism. America's diplomatic power is to be used to help foreign citizens build better lives, build nations and transform futures.

Quite recently, the US Senate received the proposal entitled, “The US Ambassador for ASEAN Act”. It deals with the pioneering initiative of appointing an ambassador to look after the ASEAN area. The ASEAN envoy would help at a diplomatic level in the implementation of the Enhanced Partnership.

On another front, the US-Vietnam World Trade Organisation (WTO) Coalition has appealed to US businesses and organisations to lobby for Vietnam's accession to the WTO and further improvements in bilateral relations. The coalition has been initiated by the US-ASEAN Business Council and US-Vietnam Trade Council. It has called for Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to Vietnam, a key requirement for its WTO admission.

Some American specialists believe the US should issue a strategic report on South-East Asia in order to provide an official assessment of regional developments. It should be focused on major concerns, issues, interests and priorities to be addressed by policy-makers and the analytical community.

This area is becoming a real force in global affairs and needs to be dealt with on its own terms. This is not easy because the prevailing tendency is still to see global affairs only through an Atlantic lens. Such a limited vision risks distorting Washington's understanding of significant events in the area. In addition, an incorrect reading of the forces at work in the region could be detrimental to the very pragmatic objective of harnessing Asia's dynamism and energy in promoting both US and ASEAN interests.

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Defining a long-term workable and comprehensive strategy requires more energetic diplomatic efforts from all parties for deepening and broadening bilateral and multilateral co-operation in South-East Asia. Valuable lessons can be learned from ASEAN's diplomatic experience according to which reforms, institutional arrangements and decision-making processes should move forward at a pace comfortable to all participants.

Precipitation may prove to be the enemy of progress. The old geopolitics of “win-lose” should be replaced by the unambiguous politics of “win-win” for all. In order to succeed, this demands a diplomacy characterised by flexibility, imaginative work, a greater sense of predictability and reliability.

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First published in the Bangkok Post, on May 21, 2006.



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About the Author

Dr Ioan Voicu is a Visiting Professor at Assumption University in Bangkok

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