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Imagining a comprehensive US-ASEAN partnership
The vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific should also be delivered through soft partnerships rather than only through the lens of defense and security.
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US President Joe Biden participates in the US-ASEAN Special Summit at the US State Department in Washington on May 13. (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)
P
erhaps there is no better way to look at the future trajectory of the relations between the United States and ASEAN than through the prism of Vietnamese-US bilateral ties.
On the sidelines of the special US-ASEAN summit last week in Washington following an interaction between Wendy Sherman, the US deputy state secretary and Ha Kim Ngoc, the Vietnamese deputy foreign minister, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
“We have seen a remarkable trajectory in the relationship between the US and Vietnam, and we are now the strongest of partners, with a shared vision for security in the region and for the strongest possible economic ties,” said Blinken.
The ways in which Hanoi and Washington manage to develop their relationship despite huge differences can be a template for the greater Indo-Pacific region, where rivalries and competitions can coexist with more productive and constructive engagements.
Despite the lack of very high expectations for the special summit, its final outcome, the Joint Vision Statement, was welcomed as a positive development, opening, according to US President Joe Biden, a new era in the ties between Southeast Asia and the US.
Yet, if the US truly wants to establish a new transformative relationship with its Southeast Asian partners, it needs to be step up its “carrot” power rather than overemphasizing its “stick” one.
Between realism, pragmatism and ambition, the ongoing partnership between Hanoi and Washington shows how Americans can forge an excellent relationship with a former enemy with an antithetical political system.
