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The US and Southeast Asia: Deepening partnerships and tackling shared challenges

The US will continue to support the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and US strategy will similarly continue to reflect Southeast Asia’s importance, and ASEAN’s critical role in determining the region’s future.

Derek Chollet
Washington, DC
Thu, October 21, 2021

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The US and Southeast Asia: Deepening partnerships and tackling shared challenges US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi walk to meet members of the media after a bilateral meeting at Department of State in Washington, on August 3, 2021. (AFP/Jose Luis Magana)

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n 1979, then United States secretary of state Cyrus Vance traveled to Indonesia to attend a meeting of ASEAN, which was formed just 12 years earlier. The historic meeting was the first of its kind, and it laid the foundation for the US-ASEAN Strategic Partnership that we enjoy today – a relationship central to the US approach to the region and our shared goals of peace and prosperity.

Back then, few imagined the successes the coming decades would bring. Today, the US-ASEAN Strategic Partnership underscores our vitally important cooperation on everything from public health and human capital development to economic recovery and maritime security.

As we prepare for the US-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit at the end of this month, it is important to remain focused on the tremendous strengths in the partnerships between the United States and countries in Southeast Asia.

I am traveling in Southeast Asia this week to strengthen these partnerships across the board, and to work together with ASEAN nations to support a peaceful return to democracy in Myanmar. The international community must take bold action to address the deteriorating political, economic, and humanitarian crises in Myanmar and the threat they pose to regional stability. 

The US applauds the principled stand of the ASEAN foreign ministers on Myanmar’s representation at the upcoming ASEAN summit, in light of the lack of progress by the military regime on the ASEAN five-point consensus. As the military regime continues its campaign of violent repression, the US will join with the international community to press the military regime to return Myanmar to its democratic path, allow for unimpeded humanitarian access, release unjustly detained individuals, cease all violence, and implement the five-point consensus that ASEAN — and the regime itself — agreed to in April. That includes immediately allowing the ASEAN special envoy, Brunei’s Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof, to visit Myanmar and meet with all stakeholders without conditions.

Beyond addressing the crisis in Myanmar, America’s goals in the region are clear: we seek a region stable, prosperous, and at peace, where freedom—of the seas, of commerce, of each individual—and a commitment to the rules-based, ASEAN-led regional order ensure that power is subject to law and stability and prosperity prevail for generations to come.

To advance these objectives, the US will continue to deepen our alliances and partnerships in Southeast Asia and work closely with ASEAN and its members to address the most pressing challenges facing the region.

First, we are committed to reflecting the centrality of ASEAN and Southeast Asia in our diplomacy. We know that ASEAN plays a critical role in ensuring regional stability, including in the maritime domain, as well as economic opportunity, people-to-people connectivity, and the rules-based international order – and we recognize the importance of elevated engagement with ASEAN.

Already this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has attended five ASEAN-led ministerial meetings, and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm convened the first-ever US-ASEAN energy ministerial. The Vice President, secretary of defense, US ambassador to the UN, and deputy secretary of state have traveled to Southeast Asia to consult with partners on critically important challenges and opportunities.  The US will continue to support the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and US strategy will similarly continue to reflect Southeast Asia’s importance, and ASEAN’s critical role in determining the region’s future.

The US is further committed to reinforcing ASEAN centrality through innovative, results-oriented partnerships with allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific. Our five regional treaty alliances and this deep, growing network of bilateral and multilateral partnerships, including the Mekong-US Partnership, will help us advance our positive vision for the Indo-Pacific, for the collective benefit of all countries. The Quad, with its focus on climate, health, and technology, has demonstrated the benefits of such coordination – as just one example, the Quad vaccine initiative is enabling the production of one billion lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines.

Second, our top priority must be to stop the spread of COVID-19 by vaccinating as many people as possible in short order, while continuing to provide life-saving assistance for infected individuals. The US has made available more than US$200 million in assistance and 42 million vaccine doses in emergency health and humanitarian assistance to ASEAN member states to fight COVID-19. The US commends ASEAN’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and we will continue to support ASEAN’s efforts to end this pandemic and prepare for the next.

Third, our economic relations in Southeast Asia will remain critical. The flows of people, services, investment, and goods across the Indo-Pacific have connected our dynamic and growing markets for decades. Southeast Asian nations collectively represent the US’ fourth largest trading partner and support over 600,000 U. jobs. We must continue to deepen these connections.

Fourth, climate change has wreaked havoc in the region. Tackling this threat with seriousness and urgency represents an opportunity to build more resilient economies and create millions of jobs, while protecting our national security and preserving our collective environmental inheritance. The US will continue to partner with ASEAN countries, and we hope ASEAN members will enhance their respective commitments and announce ambitious climate targets in the lead up to the UN climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November.

When Vice President Harris visited Singapore in August, she expressed her hope that, decades from now, we look back on this moment as “when our region joined together to realize a better future; when we took action to improve the lives of all people.”

What we can accomplish through the deep partnerships between our countries will determine whether we turn that inspiring hope into an enduring reality. We are committed to doing just that. 

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The writer is counselor of the United States Department of State.

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