Obama wants to boost military, economic foothold in the region

BEIJING - The United States aims to strengthen its economic and military foothold in the Asia-Pacific region, analysts said, following announcements made by US President Barack Obama during the APEC meetings last week and before Saturday's East Asia Summit.

Obama on Thursday declared in a speech to the Australian Parliament that "the United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay".

Several hours before his speech, he announced the US will send military aircraft and up to 2,500 US marines to northern Australia to establish a training hub to help allies and protect US interests across Asia.

With military bases and tens of thousands of troops in Japan and South Korea, the US has maintained a significant military presence in Asia for decades, said Tao Wenzhao, a senior fellow at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He added that the northern shores of Australia will give the US easier access to the South China Sea, which is a vital commercial route.

Tao said the US' latest moves also benefit some Asia-Pacific countries, notably the Philippines and Vietnam, which have close economic ties with China but rely on the US for security issues and have sought closer ties with the US to enforce territorial claims.

Another source of regional tension is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade pact promoted by the US during the APEC forum in Hawaii last weekend.

Tao said the US hopes the TPP will be a US-dominated counterbalance to a rival trade bloc of Southeast Asian countries, China, Japan and South Korea, known as ASEAN+3.

He added that China does not need to be immediately concerned since negotiations regarding the TPP have just started with only a few member countries at present.

"Establishing the TPP is not something you can just do overnight. In addition, if the US sets regulations meant for developed economies, such as the labor and environmental standards, many other Asian countries are unlikely to be able to accept them," he said.

Tao said the US' moves indicate the country intends to be the dominant force in the Asia-Pacific region.

"However, what Asian countries really need of the US is to be an equal partner of mutual trust rather than a leader or an arbitrator," he said, adding that Obama called himself "America's first Pacific president".

Shi Yinhong, an expert on US studies with Renmin University of China, said the US is using the East Asia Summit and the APEC summit meeting to "squeeze" China, saying the US views its relationship with China as a zero-sum game and regards it as the main challenger in the region. The US' view of China explains why the US wants to be involved in the disputes over the South China Sea, Shi said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared last year that the US has a "national interest" in the South China Sea, and recently called the South China Sea as the "West Philippine Sea".

Following Obama's announcement this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin at a regular briefing on Friday called on Washington to respect China's sovereign rights and added that Beijing fully respects legitimate US interests in East Asia.

Also on Friday, Obama said that he will send Clinton to Myanmar next month in the first visit by a US secretary of state for 50 years to promote "flickers" of democratic reform.

In the two-day visit, Clinton will "explore whether the United States can empower a positive transition" in Myanmar, Obama said.

Liu said China encourages the US and Myanmar to increase communication and improve relations.

China Daily

(China Daily 11/19/2011 page8)