The US 'is back' in Asia, says Hillary Clinton

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone (R) in the Thai resort of Phuket yesterday prior to a bilateral meeting at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Post Ministerial Conference (PMC).Photo: AFP

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at a key security conference yesterday carrying a no-nonsense message that the United States is ready to re-engage with Asia after years of neglect.
Hillary, arriving from Bangkok, moved right into talks with Asian counterparts gathered for two days of international meetings to discuss North Korea, Myanmar and a range of other regional issues.
She said she will sign the seminal Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, a commitment to peacefully resolve regional disputes that already has been signed by more than a dozen countries outside the 10-nation bloc.
"The United States is back," she declared upon arrival in the Thai capital Tuesday.
And in an appearance Wednesday morning on a Thai TV talk show in Bangkok she said, "President Obama and I are giving great importance to this region," suggesting that the administration of former President George W. Bush neglected US interests in Asia.
of the new US approach, she said, is the fact that her first overseas trip, in February, was to Asia.
"I believe strongly the United States has to be involved in this region," she added. Her main aim in visiting Southeast Asia this time, she said, is to "work hard to try to bring a sense of future possibilities" for partnerships to ensure Hillary was asked whether she thinks the US image abroad has been improving under President Barack Obama.
"It certainly feels like it," she said. "There is a great sigh of relief in some places" she has visited this year.
She also said that while the door is still open for Iran to engage in direct negotiations over its nuclear program, the US has a plan to prevent Iranian domination in the Middle East if it gets the nuclear bomb.
"We also have made it clear that we'll take actions - as I've said time and time again, crippling action - working to upgrade the defenses of our partners in the region," she said, referring to the Middle East, and in particular the Persian Gulf area where the United States has maintained economic, political and security interests for many decades.
"We want Iran to calculate what I think is a fair assessment: that if the United States extends a defense umbrella over the region, if we do even more to develop the military capacity of those (allies) in the Gulf, it is unlikely that Iran will be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate and dominate as they apparently believe they can once they have a nuclear weapon."
Her words appeared aimed mainly at guiding Iranian leaders to the conclusion that proceeding to develop nuclear weapons will not be in their own interests because the United States will stand firm with its longstanding allies in the Gulf to counterbalance Iran.
In Jerusalem, though, Dan Meridor, Israel's Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, told Army Radio: "I was not thrilled to hear the American statement from yesterday that they will protect their allies with a nuclear umbrella, as if they have already come to terms with a nuclear Iran. I think that's a mistake."
Hillary's signing of the ASEAN treaty will be by the executive authority of Obama and does not require congressional ratification, said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the move publicly.
The Bush administration had declined to sign the document, whereas Obama sees it as a symbolic underscoring of the US commitment to Asia.
On Tuesday, Hillary reiterated Obama administration concerns that North Korea, already a threat to the US and its neighbours with its history of illicit sales of missiles and nuclear technology, is now developing ties to Myanmar's military dictatorship.
The United States, in a joint effort with South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, is attempting to use UN sanctions as leverage to compel North Korea to return to the negotiating table over its nuclear program. A major element of the international concern about North Korea is the prospect of nuclear proliferation, which could lead to a nuclear arms race in Asia and beyond.