Following on Hillary Clinton's win at the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday, the former US secretary of state is currently the front-runner for the Democratic Party'€™s nominee as presidential candidate, which could provide consistency in that country's relationship with Indonesia, an expert has said.

Casimir A. Yost, an international relations expert from Georgetown University, and former foreign policy adviser in the US Senate, is optimistic about Clinton's run for office as the first female president of the US.

"With Hillary Clinton I think you're going to see broad continuity with Obama," Yost told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday.

Referring to US President Barack Obama's experience of living in Jakarta during his childhood, Yost said Obama had a particular love and affection for Indonesia and the Indonesian people.

In the case of Clinton, there would be a cohesive extension of current American foreign policies including great interest in Indonesia and the Southeast Asia region, he further said.

According to Yost, Clinton is the candidate most knowledgeable about Indonesia and Southeast Asia, mainly crediting her experience as secretary of state as the reason.

As for the Republican Party candidates, Yost pointed to Cuban-Americans Ted Cruz, on the conservative side, who came out as winner in the Republican Iowa caucuses, and also Marco Rubio, more of a centrist, as the ones to watch.

Yost said the election was still at a very early stage and with voting in caucuses going on until July before the general election campaign itself, changes were bound to happen along the way

Economic concerns

Citing the results of an NBC/WSJ poll taken in September last year where 62 percent of respondents said the nation was heading in the wrong direction, Yost said a major contributing factor to the pessimism was rooted in economic inequality in the country, where too much wealth was concentrated in 1 percent of the US population.

As with the previous two elections, the economy would continue to be a major issue of concern with voters, he added.

Yost said such concerns would also affect Asia as there was a direct link between economic growth in the US and the rest of the world.

"What happens to the US economy will be important for Asia's economy, but also, what happens in Asia will be important to the US economy," he said.

Four countries in Asia were attempting major economic reforms, Yost continued, namely Japan, China, India and Indonesia, which in total represented 40 percent of the world's population.

"There is absolutely no question in the United States across the range of candidates about the importance of economic relationships with Asia ['€¦] but also specifically the importance of relations with ASEAN," Yost said.

In an acknowledgement of this, he continued, the next US president would most likely visit the region within the first year in office. (ebf)(+)

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