 BY ERNEST COREA
IDN-InDepthNews Service
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) - Much has happened since President Barack Obama made his four-nations-in-eight-days visit to Asia. The first state visit of a foreign leader (India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) hosted by Obama, and the ninth round of strategic consultations between the president and his advisers on which direction to take in Afghanistan, are behind us. The groaning tables and traveling travails of Thanksgiving Day are more on people’s minds than Obama’s walk up the majestic Great Wall of China.
Soon, it will be forgotten how much Obama was criticized for bowing to the Emperor of Japan, a gesture typical of the president’s commitment to civility and respect. Some American reporters were so frazzled by the event that they demanded to know who provided the president with “guidance” on appropriate forms of greetings while traveling abroad.
Thus are the imperatives of strategic engagement, cooperation in trade, and civilized conduct between leaders of nations temporarily swept aside to make way for the demands of insatiable inquisitiveness.
Irrelevance is a trap best ignored. Moving on….
SURPLUS
Some years ago, a news agency reported that a large map of Southeast Asia had been discovered lying derelict in the bowels of the Pentagon. It was labeled “surplus.” Whose surplus? Was U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia a “surplus” element that the region could do without? Or was Southeast Asia a “surplus” region in terms of U. S. interests?
Today, neither the region nor the U.S. can afford to treat the other as “surplus”. This is not the Asia-Pacific/Southeast Asia that colonial powers assumed was up for grabs when the Iberian vanguard established a Western presence at Malacca in 1511.
Asia today, Obama said at the end of his tour, “is a region where we now buy more goods and do more trade with than any other place in the world – commerce that supports millions of jobs back home”.
In practical terms, he said. “If we can increase our exports to Asia-Pacific nations by just 5 percent, we can increase the number of American jobs supported by these exports by hundreds of thousands. This is already happening with businesses like American Superconductor Corporation, an energy technology startup based in Massachusetts that’s been providing wind power and smart grid systems to countries like China, Korea, and India. By doing so, it’s added more than 100 jobs over the last few years.”
Asia-Pacific is a bustling region, with its own objectives well demarcated, more resilient than some other regions, responsive to the opportunities of internationalism and interdependence, yet firmly anchored in its assessment of its own capabilities. Obama understands this all too well, for he is America’s first Pacific president, born in Hawaii where he did much of his growing up and with which he maintains connections.
The U.S. has learned through experience to respect the aspirations of the Asia-Pacific region, recognize its potential, and understand that there is much for both sides to gain and give in a spirit of strong and genuine partnership for 21st century progress. This means that the U.S. affirms its role as a Pacific nation no less than its transatlantic obligations.
That was the message Obama carried with him on his gruelling visit. It was a message meant to re-build bridges which many “vehicles” could cross, to the mutual advantage of all travellers. Failure to do so would be harmful to all. It is not the kind of message that creates instant results, and produces political or economic goodies overnight. And it did not.
INTERWOVEN
His first stop was at the Elmendorf Air Force base in Alaska. From there it was Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea and back home. Throughout this short and intensive visit he made it clear that the broader Asia-Pacific region and the U.S. are linked in so many ways that continuity of mutual engagement and true partnership are necessary components of progress and prosperity.
He summed up his message in a major policy statement at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall where he said: “The United States of America may have started as a series of ports and cities along the Atlantic Ocean, but for generations we have also been a nation of the Pacific. Asia and the United States are not separated by this great ocean; we are bound by it.
“We are bound by our past -- by the Asian immigrants who helped build America, and the generations of Americans in uniform who served and sacrificed to keep this region secure and free.
“We are bound by our shared prosperity -- by the trade and commerce upon which millions of jobs and families depend. And we are bound by our people -- by the Asian Americans who enrich every segment of American life, and all the people whose lives, like our countries, are interwoven. . . .
“……..So I want everyone to know, and I want everybody in America to know, that we have a stake in the future of this region, because what happens here has a direct effect on our lives at home. . . . This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods. And this is where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process.
“This is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world, and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our continents. And there can be no solution to our energy security and our climate challenge without the rising powers and developing nations of the Asia-Pacific. . . .
“. . . Of course, we will not agree on every issue, and the United States will never waver in speaking up for the fundamental values that we hold dear -- and that includes respect for the religion and cultures of all people -- because support for human rights and human dignity is ingrained in America. But we can move these discussions forward in a spirit of partnership rather than rancor.”
So what did his mission give him?
PRODUCTS
As mentioned earlier, Obama’s nuanced, “getting to know each other better” mission, could not and and did not result in instant gratification. Rather than labouring at “breakthroughs,” he was trying to create commitments to a vision of the future. In the process, some “products” stood out.
- In Singapore, Obama’s presence at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum, and his participation in an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit – the first U.S. president to do so – opened the door to strengthened economic cooperation between these groups and the U.S. APEC’s 21 member nations create over half the world’s economic output.
- In Tokyo, Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama committed their two countries to collaborate in working towards a nuclear free world. They signed an agreement that covered nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, denuclearising North Korea, Iran’s nuclear program, nuclear security, nuclear terrorism, peaceful uses of nuclear power, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
- Also in Tokyo, Obama welcomed Hatoyama’s pledge of $5 billion in civilian assistance to Afghanistan, and his offer of police training to Afghan recruits.
- Tensions over the U.S. base in Okinawa were diffused by the issue being submitted to a joint working group for practical resolution.
- In Beijing, Obama and President Hu Tinjao committed their countries to regular strategic and economic dialogue as a matter of mutual interest.
- China and the U.S. recommitted themselves to nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, both regionally and internationally. This commitment has implications for the situation in North Korea and Iran.
- High level military contacts, including exchange and cooperation programs will take place between China and the U.S. to foster clearer understanding of mutual strategic considerations.
- Agriculture and public health – including stem cell research and H1N1 issues – will be subjects of bilateral collaboration. Opportunities for cooperation in science and technology including space science will be explored.
- Both countries pledged to work at a succesful outcome of the the forthcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen.
These “products” signify the beginning of what could be thriving 21st century partnerships – if they are followed through. The promise of progress does not bloom into reality on its own. Successful partnerships come about through continued commitment and sustained effort. (IDN-InDepthNews/26.11.09)
Copyright © 2009 IDN-InDepthNews Service
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The writer has served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the USA. He was Chairman of the Commonwealth Select Committee on the media and development, Editor of the Ceylon ‘Daily News’ and the Ceylon ‘Observer’, and was for a time Features Editor and Foreign Affairs columnist of the Singapore ‘Straits Times’. He is on the IDN editorial board.
Ernest Corea’s previous IDN articles:
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