Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting
Thursday, July 24, 2008
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Contact: Michael Ortiz
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's attendance at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Ministerial meeting in Singapore is an opportunity for us to reflect on the relationship between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and indeed Southeast Asia itself.
After September 11, official U.S. attention returned to Southeast Asia focusing especially on concerns about Islamic extremism in the region. This threat remains, coming from a small number of extremists living amidst a broadly tolerant and moderate Muslim population in Southeast Asia. But it must not be the sum total of our attention and interest in the region. Our alliances with Thailand and the Philippines, and special relationship with Singapore, remain critical components of our regional presence. Relations with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam will only become more essential to the security and prosperity of the United States, and the world, in coming years.
Half of the world's oil passes through Southeast Asia's sea lanes, as does a third of global trade. U.S. trade with the ten nations of ASEAN is more than $170 billion per year, making the region as a whole our fourth-largest trading partner.
ASEAN's impact extends beyond Southeast Asia and provides the model for, and in some cases the core of, many transnational institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. ASEAN has led efforts to construct new vehicles for regional cooperation and confidence-building among nations with histories of tension and mistrust. The ASEAN Regional Forum is one such organization. These efforts have helpfully supplemented the existing regional security arrangements, notably the U.S. system of alliances, that have underwritten stability for generations.
ASEAN is at a crossroads in its own institutional development, and in its relations with the United States. The new ASEAN Charter offers the promise of a more cohesive and assertive institution, one that demands respect for human rights from its member states. These emerging trends need to be strengthened, and I join the growing number of those in Southeast Asia who recognize that what happens in one ASEAN member country often affects the interests of others. As a U.S. Senator, I will support ASEAN's efforts to evolve to accommodate this era of increasing inter-dependency.
I remain particularly concerned about conditions in Burma. I commend ASEAN for its attempts to reach the suffering people in southern Burma, who continue to struggle in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. But more needs to be done to reach them. I hope the upcoming ARF meeting deals directly with this issue, as well as with broader plans for regional cooperation on humanitarian assistance to the country. I urge ASEAN to take the lead in a broader, long-term effort to effect a coordinated international response to the situation in Burma that can encourage the junta toward reform and true national reconciliation in that country.
The United States needs to strengthen its relationship with ASEAN, and we have some new opportunities to do just that. But to do so we must listen to the region's concerns and be part of the regional discussion. The United States should hold summit meetings with ASEAN's leaders. In addition, I am pleased that the United States is the first country to have an Ambassador for ASEAN Affairs, but that is only a beginning step. We should encourage others in the Asia-Pacific region to work with us to strengthen ASEAN and to address a growing list of developmental challenges and new security threats, such as infectious disease, drug and human trafficking, environmental degradation, climate change, energy security and disaster mitigation.
Attendance at Asian regional meetings sends important signals to the region's leaders about the importance of East Asia, and particularly Southeast Asia, to the continued security and prosperity of the United States. We should demonstrate unmistakably through our high-level participation in such forums that our interests are profoundly engaged in the region.
I have a deep personal interest in Southeast Asia: for four of the first ten years of my life, I lived in Indonesia with my mother and sister. My years there gave me an appreciation for the region's rich diversity of cultures, societies, and traditions. Our policy toward Southeast Asia should reflect an understanding of that diversity, and of the increasing importance of the region to the peace, stability and prosperity of the United States and the broader international community.