FINANCIAL TIMES

America Must Show It's Lasting Interest in Asia Policy
By Matthew Goodman

19 November 2004

Barely three weeks after winning a fresh mandate, George W. Bush and his new foreign policy team will have a chance this weekend to start shaping their second-term priorities when the US president meets 20 other leaders at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Santiago, Chile.

A plethora of pressing regional concerns - North Korea, terrorism, trade and currency frictions - will demand Mr Bush's attention but the summit is also an opportunity to reassert America's long-term leadership in Asia.

Asia policy has been one of the relative foreign policy successes of Mr Bush's first term. The administration has established a constructive relationship with China while strengthening ties with Japan, producing a rare period in which Washington enjoyed good relations with both regional powers. The White House has also worked to strengthen alliances and economic engagement with south-east Asian countries.

North Korea is the one area where the administration has arguably made a bad situation worse through early belligerence and refusal to negotiate directly on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. But the White House did devise a creative multi-party framework for dialogue in north-east Asia that could have lasting institutional significance. There are also important longer-term challenges in Asia facing Mr Bush. While Asian leaders have been relatively supportive of US policies on terrorism and Iraq, they have found it increasingly difficult to defend US action in the face of growing popular hostility, especially in majority Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Paradoxically, this hostility is accompanied by anxiety about US disengagement from Asia at a time when China appears to moving inexorably towards regional hegemony.

For the most part, Asian countries welcome the opportunities presented by a rising China, particularly those that flow from its rapid economic growth. Beijing has encouraged these sentiments by launching a regional charm offensive, offering trade concessions, co-operating in regional forums and downplaying territorial disputes.

But China's neighbours are not naive. As Muhammad Noordin Sopiee of Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies said in a recent press interview, other Asians sometimes see the "glint of steel" behind Beijing's friendly gestures. This highlights both the risk to the US of yielding regional leadership to China and an opportunity for the US to solidify its position in the region as a "hedge" against Chinese domination.

In Santiago, Mr Bush can do three things to demonstrate America's commitment to Asia. First, he can inject new energy and focus into Apec itself. For all its flaws, this is the only forum in which the US president regularly meets his Asia-Pacific counterparts.

The forum does unheralded but useful work to facilitate regional trade, investment and co-operation in important areas such as health, micro- enterprise finance and security. But, after 15 years, Apec's agenda has become too diffuse and its processes too unwieldy. The president should propose a dramatic streamlining of the organisation to make it more responsive to leaders' priorities in promoting regional prosperity and security.

Second, Mr Bush should reach out to his south-east Asian counterparts by proposing a free trade area between the US and the important group of countries on China's southern rim. With China, Japan and Korea all negotiating their own FTAs with the south-east Asian bloc, it is time the US followed suit. The strategic benefits of such an initiative, which would solidify US ties with the region, could be even greater than its economic policy significance.

Finally, in his bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Mr Bush should propose a new, high-level economic dialogue between the two countries. Given China's growing role in the global economy, the two countries need a standing cabinet-level forum co-chaired by top White House officials and Chinese counterparts to maximise the scope for bilateral co-operation and minimise the risks of friction.

The White House has had little time to prepare a robust agenda for this year's Apec meeting due to the election. But the region's challenges, from the threat of nuclear proliferation to the rise of China, will not wait for next year. The president and his new team should take advantage of this rare meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders to reaffirm America's long-term commitment to this vital region.

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