US may shift attention to Asia in security matters, expert says

The United States will likely shift its attention to Asia in terms of security issues, an expert said on Monday.

Ernest Bower, a senior advisor and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the US was trying to disengage itself from activities in Afghanistan, and that the recent issue of the killing of Osama bin Laden have given president Barack Obama improved national security credentials in the US context.

“The new focus will be on Asia, because the US sees growth and [there’s a] clear understanding in Washington that in terms of 21st century security issues Asia is going to be more important than the Middle East,” Bower said in Jakarta.

According to Bower, who was speaking on the second day of the ASEAN Leadership Forum held after the ASEAN Summit on Saturday and Sunday, there’s a “real interest in national security cooperation […] The US was encouraged by last year’s moves in the political security area.”

The moves Bower referred to included the meeting of ASEAN defense ministers +8 held in Vietnam in 2010.

Myanmar, however, will remain a thorny issue, especially if ASEAN is to grant it the chairmanship in 2014 as it has requested, Bower said.

This, he said, “will effectively cut us out for a year”.

Bower added that the US would find ways to work around maintaining engagements in the ASEAN region.

For things to run smoothly there needed to be significant changes in Myanmar between now and 2014, he said.