Yet the need for an overall American Asia policy remains, and prominent voices stress that goal requires in turn a clear US trade policy. Because of North Korea’s nuclear weapons capacity, and the vulnerability of Seoul’s population to northern artillery and missiles just 30 miles removed, this crisis vitally affects the most dangerous issues of war and peace in East Asia.Ĭompared to those Northeast Asian issues, any foreign policy questions posed by Indonesia and Australia may be seen as small beer, though ironically it reflects their success. A multi-nation group of naval specialists, including Australians, has found it was caused by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine. The second issue is the March sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan and its 46 deaths. It affects the reliability of the Japan-US alliance, the anchor of America’s security role in the Western Pacific. Prime Minister Hatoyama set the end of May for a resolution, and while the 2006 US-Japan agreement will now go forward, the devil really is in the details. One is the tension with Japan centering on US military bases in Okinawa. Two critical issues are likely still to be at the top of America’s agenda during the President’s visit. From the American side, as US Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, has pointed out regarding Indonesia, US industry has special capabilities in infrastructure-building, in the development of ‘green’ and related hi-tech energy sectors, and of course in agriculture.īut this is also the ‘worst of times’ for a Presidential visit to Australia and Southeast Asia because it is Northeast Asia that now consumes most of Washington’s Pacific region attention. It will seek to spread the word of what today’s Indonesia represents: high annual growth rates of more than 6 per cent, a population of almost 250 million with a strongly favorable demography, and a stable democratic environment. The second category will emphasise the trade and investment opportunities Indonesia now represents for Americans.Īs Indonesia’s Trade Minister, Mari Pangestu, recently remarked, Indonesia is acutely aware it is little understood in the United States. The catch up category includes expanding scholarship and educational opportunities in the United States for young Indonesians, and resuming exchanges with Indonesia’s military, especially senior-officer training in the US. The goal will be both to ‘catch up’ in sectors that have been relatively neglected in recent years, and to open up new fields for Indonesia-US cooperation. In 2008, President Yudhoyono announced his ‘ Comprehensive Partnership with the US‘ - a sea-change for Jakarta-and it will be further formalised and intensified during Obama’s three-day visit. In the familiar phrase, these visits come at the ‘best of times and the worst of times.’ It is the best of times because US relations with both Jakarta and Canberra have never been better. President Obama’s twice-deferred trip to Indonesia is now scheduled for the week after next, and will be combined with a visit to Australia.
Obama’s visit to Indonesia and Australia and the TPP Īuthor: Bernard K.
Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
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