January 08, 2009 14:17 PM
Malaysian National News Agency, BERNAMA.COM
BANGKOK, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The incoming United States administration under Barack Obama has been told by experts on US-Asia relationship to sign the long-overdue Asean Treaty of Amity of Cooperation (TAC) if it wants to have greater engagement with southeast Asian countries.
The recommendation, contained in the "America's Role In Asia: Asian and American View" book, which is the culmination of a year-long project on US-Asian relations, has been handed over to Obama's transition team, said Asia Foundation's Director of International Programme, John J. Brandon.
"The various recommendations made by the experts have been given to Obama's transition team to consider. I was given the impression that they viewed it favourably but there will be no decision until Jan 20 (when Obama is sworn in as president)," Brandon said at a forum here.
Brandon, whose San Francisco-based organisation funded the project, said that while Asian countries, including the 10-member Asean, looked for greater engagement in the region from Obama's team, they could not expect much as the country's first black president would be facing two wars, a severe economic crisis, high unemployment rates, US$2 trillion debts and many more domestic issues.
"It's good that Thailand and the US have long and uninterrupted ties. But as the chair of Asean, the US will be looking at how Thailand is able to lead the grouping amid three elections in Indonesia this year, its own domestic problem or political changes in Malaysia and economic challenges in other countries,' he said.
How Thailand helped Asean to work with the US was critical, he said, adding that the enforcement of the Asean Charter, which came to force last month, and the issue of Myanmar would play critical roles in how the region shaped its ties with the world super power.
"But if I'm from the region, I won't give a laundry list on what to do. Instead, let's first concentrate on issues like climate change and energy security as Asia is a very important region in this aspects," he said.
In her article, Georgetown University's Director of Thai Studies, Catharin Dalpino, said that to mitigate the problems the US brings to its relations with Asean, signing the TAC was probably the best short-term measure available to improve relations with the region, and for that reason alone, it was a step worth taking.
"A secondary, but still important, reason is to give the United States a seat at the table of the East Asia Summit. To date, EAS meetings have not produced major initiatives, but there is growing acknowledgement that the summit is a permanent fixture in the Asian regional framework,' she said.
Dalpino said the US security community had thus far opposed signing the TAC, fearing that its pledge to resolve disputes without force would constrain the US military power in Asia.
-- BERNAMA
The recommendation, contained in the "America's Role In Asia: Asian and American View" book, which is the culmination of a year-long project on US-Asian relations, has been handed over to Obama's transition team, said Asia Foundation's Director of International Programme, John J. Brandon.
"The various recommendations made by the experts have been given to Obama's transition team to consider. I was given the impression that they viewed it favourably but there will be no decision until Jan 20 (when Obama is sworn in as president)," Brandon said at a forum here.
Brandon, whose San Francisco-based organisation funded the project, said that while Asian countries, including the 10-member Asean, looked for greater engagement in the region from Obama's team, they could not expect much as the country's first black president would be facing two wars, a severe economic crisis, high unemployment rates, US$2 trillion debts and many more domestic issues.
"It's good that Thailand and the US have long and uninterrupted ties. But as the chair of Asean, the US will be looking at how Thailand is able to lead the grouping amid three elections in Indonesia this year, its own domestic problem or political changes in Malaysia and economic challenges in other countries,' he said.
How Thailand helped Asean to work with the US was critical, he said, adding that the enforcement of the Asean Charter, which came to force last month, and the issue of Myanmar would play critical roles in how the region shaped its ties with the world super power.
"But if I'm from the region, I won't give a laundry list on what to do. Instead, let's first concentrate on issues like climate change and energy security as Asia is a very important region in this aspects," he said.
In her article, Georgetown University's Director of Thai Studies, Catharin Dalpino, said that to mitigate the problems the US brings to its relations with Asean, signing the TAC was probably the best short-term measure available to improve relations with the region, and for that reason alone, it was a step worth taking.
"A secondary, but still important, reason is to give the United States a seat at the table of the East Asia Summit. To date, EAS meetings have not produced major initiatives, but there is growing acknowledgement that the summit is a permanent fixture in the Asian regional framework,' she said.
Dalpino said the US security community had thus far opposed signing the TAC, fearing that its pledge to resolve disputes without force would constrain the US military power in Asia.
-- BERNAMA
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