While attending the East
Asian Summit this weekend in Kuala Lumpur, U.S.
President Barack Obama invited ASEAN leaders to attend a special summit in the
United States next year. This is not
the first time a U.S. President has made such an invitation, but (hopefully) it
seems that the factors that waylaid the last such proposal won’t do the same to
this one. The proposed 2016 summit also
demonstrates the usefulness of addressing U.S. relations with Southeast Asian
countries within the ASEAN context, rather than on a bilateral basis, something
that should be institutionalized and built upon.
The invitation comes on the
heels of an “upgrading”
of U.S.-ASEAN relations to a “strategic” level, with a 5 year plan for
cooperation on political-security, economic and socio-cultural issues.
Political-security issues
include maritime issues (e.g. the South China Sea), terrorism, trafficking in
persons and refugees.
Economic issues include the
ASEAN Single Window, trade facilitation, investment, support for SMEs, as well
as the ASEAN-United States Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) Initiatives (which
hopefully can be beefed up to help ASEAN members like Thailand, Philippines and
Indonesia build capacity to join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), now that
we actually know what would be required by the TPP).
Socio-cultural issues
include human rights, climate change, youth and women’s programs, among others.
Although many of these
programs already exist, the “upgrade” institutionalizes these aspects of the
relationship. Regularizing the special
summit proposed for 2016 would also help with the “upgrade,” expanding beyond
the current U.S.-ASEAN summit that is held on the sidelines of the East Asia
Summit.
This is not a new idea.
Then-U.S. President George W. Bush proposed a similar U.S.-ASEAN summit to be
held at his Crawford ranch. However, that proposal faded away mainly due to
objections to the potential participation of the Myanmar military regime. The Bush administration thus was denied its
opportunity to conduct its own “upgrade.”
Times and sensitivities have
changed. Now that Myanmar appears set to
continue its political and economic reform, its participation is much less of
an issue. Furthermore, participation in
the 2016 special summit would be an incentive for Aung San Suu Kyi’s victorious
party and the military to reach agreement on an acceptable president for
Myanmar.
Moreover, engaging ASEAN as
a group allows the United States to continue relations with countries which
would be more problematic on a bilateral basis, such as Thailand and its
current military government. For
example, the presence of the Thai prime minister at the U.S.-ASEAN summit did
not cause any difficulties. In fact, the
U.S. has indicated that Thailand’s military government would not prevent
Thailand from joining the TPP. This
reflects the continued balancing between geopolitical concerns and aspirations
for the region.
In any event,
institutionalizing the “upgrade” in U.S.-ASEAN ties is both welcome and
necessary, given the upcoming 2016 elections.
Regardless of who the next U.S. President is after November 2016, he or
she will have a better set of tools to work with Southeast Asia.
NB: Since Thanksgiving is
celebrated this Thursday in America, here is a
link to a Straits Times op-ed I wrote on this very unique holiday.
