On the Thai resort island of Phuket, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been meeting the foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations and other key regional partners such as Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan, as part of the ASEAN regional security forum (ARF) this week.

On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton signed a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. This paves the way for the US to join the East Asian summit, which currently brings together ASEAN and Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Carl Thayer, a regional security analyst at the University of New South Wales, Australia, said that this was an important step that would “guarantee a continued high level of American diplomatic presence in Southeast Asia”.

Raising US credibility

He said this was particularly true in comparison to under the Bush administration when the then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “had to miss the odd ARF meeting which made the region become concerned about the US credibility.”

Thayer added that the US government intended to adopt “smart diplomacy” as a policy guide and would emphasise multilateralism as crucial in dealing with regional issues.

Experts say a stronger US presence in ASEAN will also add weight to sensitive territorial issues such as rival claims to islands in the South China Sea. The resource-rich region has been the source of tensions between Vietnam and the Philippines with China.

The Washington-based Jamestown Foundation recently warned that a 2002 breakthrough agreement between ASEAN and China to ease tensions in the South China Sea appeared "in danger of becoming irrelevant".

The US is also expected to stand up to China’s pressure on US companies to halt business ties with Vietnam. The US has apparently offered China more ways of promoting multilateral cooperation.

Promoting human rights

Human rights workers say that US involvement in ASEAN will also play a vital role to press the military government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to introduce political reform, release political prisoners and allow for free and fair elections next year.

Debbie Stothard, a spokeswoman for Alternative ASEAN Network, said: “ASEAN is tending to take things more seriously on Burma around this time simply because of the presence of the US. They have all had to sit up and take notice because the U.S. is a key partner of ASEAN.”

On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton called for close cooperation with ASEAN countries in pressing for change in Myanmar. She urged the junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

She suggested this would pave the way for investments from the United States. Otherwise, she implied, ASEAN might have to consider expelling Myanmar from the regional grouping.

Author: Ron Corben
Editor: Disha Uppal