Unlike Condoleezza Rice, who chose not to attend two ASEAN summits, Clinton was present during the organization's last meeting, which was held this week, and once again explained to everyone there Barack Obama's policies, which are very different from George W. Bush's approach. According to Clinton, the US will prioritize closer ties with Asian countries that have chosen to become more democratic and stable.It's not hard to forecast that there will be players who will oppose Indonesia and other Asian countries if they want to get closer to the US. In fact, some activities serving the interests of these antagonistic players have already begun, as we can observe in the recent hotel bombings in Jakarta. These terrorists are apparently quite disturbed over the nascent Indonesia-US and ASEAN-US rapprochement, as this policy provides strategic advantages to the US, reducing the room for those who benefit from the ongoing violence in this region to maneuver. If you think about Indonesia's natural resources, it's not hard to guess which countries, with authoritarian governments using hard politics, are annoyed.
The US's insistence on opening to East Asia is not limited to Indonesia. During the ASEAN summit, Clinton clearly condemned Myanmar's undemocratic political system, she talked about possibilities for wider regional cooperation and she made a point to call attention to the situation in two countries, namely Iran and North Korea.
When one talks about Asia, it's hard not to mention Iran and North Korea, primarily because both countries have a nuclear “issue.” Additionally, one of these countries occupies a place of key importance in the Middle East-Caucasus axis, while the other occupies that spot in the Asia-Pacific axis. One of them has the power to influence Russian-Middle Eastern and Russian-Caucasian relationships, and the other the relationship between Russia, China and Japan. One of them threatens the world through Israel, and the other through Japan. In fact, both of them represent a serious threat for the US's friends and allies. Even though the European Union seems to be absent in this equation, naturally some EU countries have a role to play. The problem is determining which EU countries really support Obama's US government.
While Clinton proposed putting a “defense umbrella” in place in order to protect US allies in East Asia, she has also declared that China and Russia are in agreement with the US on Iran and North Korea. By doing this, she was in fact trying to find out to which level relations can be improved with Russia and China. The US tries to reassure the entire world by proclaiming that Washington will not be one to allow a nuclear madness and future regional wars; in exchange, it asks its powerful rivals not to support terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
Nevertheless, no one should expect Obama and his administration to wait for an answer until the end of time. Obama and his team have visited each and every continent, they have contacted countless leaders and they have quite finished their tour. It's highly probable that the US will toughen its position from now on if Russia, China and European countries don't respond positively to the new American direction. That's if, of course, Israel doesn't act faster than everyone else, pushing every player into making radical choices.
