Obama team’s top focus on reviving economy, Mid-East issues; China also ranks high: Envoy
By Nilanjana Sengupta 15 December 2008
Asia will not feature as an immediate priority for the Obama administration when it takes office five weeks from now, barring a crisis on the Korean peninsula, in the Taiwan Strait, or between India and Pakistan, a leading expert on United States foreign policy has said.
But China will figure prominently, as more attention will be paid to deepening the bilateral ties between the two countries, said Ambassador Mitchell Reiss last Thursday, at a talk organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Entitled From Campaign Rhetoric To Global Leadership: Foreign Policy Challenges For President-
Elect Barack Obama, the talk by Mr. Reiss, who served as Office of Policy Planning director at the US State Department from 2003 to 2005, outlined what to expect from the new administration against the backdrop of the current financial crisis.
‘Priority Nos. 1, 2 and 3 for the Obama administration are reviving the US economy and then the foreign policy issues,’ he told The Straits Times.
Among the foreign policy challenges, are concerns about instability in the region known as the broader Middle East - which includes Iraq and Afghanistan - that will dominate the incoming administration’s foreign policy and defence planning for the foreseeable future.
‘Obama has made a promise about withdrawing troops from Iraq. So we have to ensure that the drawdown of
forces is done in a way that secures our position in the region, because Iran is a rising influence.
‘The fear is that countries in the region will see us withdrawing from Iraq and will think we are withdrawing from the region, and outfits like Al-Qaeda in Iraq will launch a barrage of propaganda saying, ‘America is leaving, we have forced them out’. We have to anticipate that and make sure we secure our position in the Gulf as we draw down.’
Afghanistan is the other foreign policy issue that Mr. Obama highlighted during his presidential campaign. He claimed the central front for the war against terror was in Afghanistan, especially along the border areas with Pakistan, and vowed to send more troops to defeat the Taleban and uproot Al-Qaeda forces in the region.
Last Thursday, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is staying on in the post in the Obama administration, announced that the US military would pour 20,000 more troops into Afghanistan by next summer. When the additions are complete, the number of US troops in Afghanistan will have climbed to more than 50,000, reported the Associated Press.
In contrast, Mr. Obama will not have to invest too much time in Asia, said Mr. Reiss, who is currently Diplomat-in-
Residence at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Over the last six to seven years, the Bush administration has had generally good relations with countries like China and Japan and with nations in South-east Asia, and is handing the Obama team a solid foundation on which to build, he said.
‘The relative stability in East and South-east Asia in the past decade works against a greater American presence in these regions,’ he said.
‘It is not that Washington takes our Asian friends and allies for granted or minimises the overall influence of Asia...
Rather, at a time when the US is heavily engaged in two wars, policymakers will have little time and fewer resources to devote to East and South-east Asia.’
However, the incoming Obama administration can build on the success of the Bush administration with China, and test how responsible a stakeholder in the international community China will be in dealing with issues like the six-party talks with North Korea, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and stabilising the global economy.
‘There is talk in Washington that the new president will expand his strategic and economic dialogue with China to include a wide range of global issues like poverty, environment and transnational issues like terrorism,’ said Mr. Reiss.
‘There is a real opportunity here for Obama to deepen the bilateral relationship with China, which is not only a major regional player, but is also influential in other parts of the world.’
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Stable Asia ‘won’t be high priority’ for US
Obama team’s top focus on reviving economy, Mid-East issues; China also ranks high: Envoy
By Nilanjana Sengupta
15 December 2008
Asia will not feature as an immediate priority for the Obama administration when it takes office five weeks from now, barring a crisis on the Korean peninsula, in the Taiwan Strait, or between India and Pakistan, a leading expert on United States foreign policy has said.
But China will figure prominently, as more attention will be paid to deepening the bilateral ties between the two countries, said Ambassador Mitchell Reiss last Thursday, at a talk organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Entitled From Campaign Rhetoric To Global Leadership: Foreign Policy Challenges For President-
Elect Barack Obama, the talk by Mr. Reiss, who served as Office of Policy Planning director at the US State Department from 2003 to 2005, outlined what to expect from the new administration against the backdrop of the current financial crisis.
‘Priority Nos. 1, 2 and 3 for the Obama administration are reviving the US economy and then the foreign policy issues,’ he told The Straits Times.
Among the foreign policy challenges, are concerns about instability in the region known as the broader Middle East - which includes Iraq and Afghanistan - that will dominate the incoming administration’s foreign policy and defence planning for the foreseeable future.
‘Obama has made a promise about withdrawing troops from Iraq. So we have to ensure that the drawdown of
forces is done in a way that secures our position in the region, because Iran is a rising influence.
‘The fear is that countries in the region will see us withdrawing from Iraq and will think we are withdrawing from the region, and outfits like Al-Qaeda in Iraq will launch a barrage of propaganda saying, ‘America is leaving, we have forced them out’. We have to anticipate that and make sure we secure our position in the Gulf as we draw down.’
Afghanistan is the other foreign policy issue that Mr. Obama highlighted during his presidential campaign. He claimed the central front for the war against terror was in Afghanistan, especially along the border areas with Pakistan, and vowed to send more troops to defeat the Taleban and uproot Al-Qaeda forces in the region.
Last Thursday, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is staying on in the post in the Obama administration, announced that the US military would pour 20,000 more troops into Afghanistan by next summer. When the additions are complete, the number of US troops in Afghanistan will have climbed to more than 50,000, reported the Associated Press.
In contrast, Mr. Obama will not have to invest too much time in Asia, said Mr. Reiss, who is currently Diplomat-in-
Residence at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Over the last six to seven years, the Bush administration has had generally good relations with countries like China and Japan and with nations in South-east Asia, and is handing the Obama team a solid foundation on which to build, he said.
‘The relative stability in East and South-east Asia in the past decade works against a greater American presence in these regions,’ he said.
‘It is not that Washington takes our Asian friends and allies for granted or minimises the overall influence of Asia...
Rather, at a time when the US is heavily engaged in two wars, policymakers will have little time and fewer resources to devote to East and South-east Asia.’
However, the incoming Obama administration can build on the success of the Bush administration with China, and test how responsible a stakeholder in the international community China will be in dealing with issues like the six-party talks with North Korea, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and stabilising the global economy.
‘There is talk in Washington that the new president will expand his strategic and economic dialogue with China to include a wide range of global issues like poverty, environment and transnational issues like terrorism,’ said Mr. Reiss.
‘There is a real opportunity here for Obama to deepen the bilateral relationship with China, which is not only a major regional player, but is also influential in other parts of the world.’
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