A Political Timetable for the New Administration
According to the task force’s independent report, Southeast Asia deserves more attention from U. S. lawmakers than it has gained in the recent past. He argues that Southeast Asia has a long history of significant economic and security ties with the United States and is of strategic interest. Yet the United States has benignly overlooked the region, its needs, and its prospects for expansion for nearly two decades. With the economic crisis in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the late 1990s, the recovery of U. S. diplomatic relations continued to decline. ethnic conflicts and decentralization in Indonesia, the region and its member countries are back on the external horizon.
Lack of understanding of recent U. S. policyThe U. S. move toward the region, the report says, is shameful because of the region’s importance to U. S. national interests. With a population of 525 million and an annual gross national product of $700 billion, Southeast Asia has region in the United States. trading partner; It is home to several emerging democracies. Today, the region is more volatile than at any time since the Vietnam War. In several countries, namely Indonesia and the Philippines, the aftermath of the economic crisis and emerging political turmoil continues to create turbulent political regimes, fragile economies and a loss of investors. confidence.
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The report recommends that the United States maintain regional security by preserving a credible military presence and a viable regional education and structure. This, according to the implementation group, will help avoid intra-regional conflicts and dominate the country through external powers. The report will also pay specific attention to U. S. relations. The task force says helping foster economic and political reform in Indonesia, lately plagued by “social, political and economic instability,” would have vital implications for the region and the world. Indonesia, the task force notes, is the fourth most populous country in the world and the hub of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and has the world’s largest Muslim network. It is also a primary oil exporter and the only Asian member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
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J. Robert Kerrey is president of New School University and a former senator from Nebraska.
Robert A. Manning is the C. V. Starr senior fellow and director of Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.