Top U.S. trade official heads to Southeast Asia for talks

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk smiles during an event at the Singapore Management University April 26, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Tim Chong)

Wed Aug 29, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will discuss how the United States can deepen trade ties with fast-growing nations in Southeast Asia in talks this week in Cambodia, U.S. trade officials said.

Kirk will join trade ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) at their annual meeting on Thursday and take part in the inaugural ASEAN-U.S. Business Summit focusing on innovation and the digital economy.

His trip is also likely to include a stopover in Vietnam.

Canada looking to boost trade in Southeast Asia

28/08/2012

VietNamNet Bridge – Canada’s International Trade Minister Ed Fast will make a tour of four Southeast Asians from Aug 27-Sep 3 boost trade relations with the region.

The minister will be accompanied by a business delegation during the 7-day visit that takes him to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, according to the Canadian Ministry of International Trade.

Fast said on August 26 that the fast-growing markets including the Southeast Asia are an important part in the country’s action plan in the economic field.

SE Asia to Power Asian Growth for Next Two Decades

Bank employees transport millions of Indonesian rupiah notes at a national bank outlet in Jakarta, Indonesia. (European Pressphoto Association)

August 3, 2012
By Eric Bellman
The Wall Street Journal

JAKARTA – While Southeast Asia contains a diverse and often confusing patchwork of economies, it is on the way to becoming the next big growth engine in Asia, helping lift incomes and living standards across the region, according to a new report.

For the last decade Southeast Asian countries have been outshined by their giant neighbors India and China. But the ten countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations now have a combined gross domestic product which already eclipses India’s and could be bigger than Japan’s in 16 years, said Rajiv Biswas, chief Asia economist at IHS Global Insights in the report.

Thanks in part to their trade with China, the combined economies of the bloc have grown from around $600 billion in 2000 to $2.3 trillion this year and should continue to grow to $4.7 trillion by 2020 and close to $10 trillion by 2030, the report said.

The continued climb of the top economies, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, is also expected to bring more jobs, investment and big global brands to the region.

Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty: What Is Holding It Up? – Analysis

August 2, 2012
By Shubhra Chaturvedi
IPCS (Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies)

The meeting of ASEAN members with the P5 held in Cambodia in July 2012 that aimed at the early accession of the SEANWFZ Protocol met its expected fate. As a result of the P5 reservations, the discussion has been postponed till November 2012 like all the previous times. Is the ASEAN decision to go ahead with denuclearisation unjustified? If the international responsibility is towards global disarmament, why does the initiative need approval from the P5?

Prolonged discussions

The SEANWFZ Treaty was signed by the ASEAN leaders in Bangkok, Thailand on 15 December 1995 and it took effect two years later. However, negotiations on the protocol between the ASEAN and the five recognized nuclear-weapons states have been on since May 2001. The July 2012 negotiations have resulted in the treaty being on hold again since four countries out of the P5 (all except China) have asked for time to reconcile and reconsider the clauses of the treaty. While the general claim towards global disarmament would see the treaty as a step forward, the inertia is difficult to comprehend despite the reasons put forward.

Will SE Asia become a battleground?

By Tommy Koh
Global Times | 2012-7-22

Recently the foreign ministers of China and the US met with their ASEAN counterparts in Phnom Penh. Several thought-provoking questions were raised. First, are China and the US competing for influence in Southeast Asia? Second, can Southeast Asia manage this competition without compromising ASEAN's neutrality and jeopardizing regional peace? Third, will China and the US turn Southeast Asia into a battleground?

First, China and the US are certainly competing for influence in Southeast Asia. They are, however, not alone in this competition. Japan, India, Russia and the EU are also involved.

Who is ahead? It is hard to say. In the area of trade, for example, China has become the top trading partner for some ASEAN countries. In recent years, China has also substantially increased its FDI in ASEAN, especially in Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. As for overseas development assistance (ODA), my impression is that, in recent years, China has overtaken Japan as the No. 1 provider of ODA to ASEAN. In the area of peace and security, the US remains the pre-eminent military power. The US also enjoys great prestige because of its attractive soft power. Many in the region look to the US for comfort when faced with China's challenges.

Clinton announces $50M in aid for SE Asia

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, greets U.S. Embassy staff at the Le Royal hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Friday, July 13, 2012. Photo: Brendan Smialowski, Pool / AP

Thursday, July 12, 2012
BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press

PHNOM PEHN, Cambodia (AP) — The United States says it will provide five counties in Southeast Asia with $50 million over three years to assist them with health, education and environment programs.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the funding Friday in Cambodia.

Recipients of the aid are Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

Clinton is finishing up a week of diplomacy in Asia. She meets later Friday with Myanmar's president and will introduce him to U.S. business leaders.

Clinton talks cash injections at ASEAN

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 12 July 2012
Cheang Sokha and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday told delegates at the ASEAN Regional Forum her country would put “our money where our mouth is” with its regional development assistance, starting with a down payment she would announce in coming days.

Clinton said that under the Obama administration, Asia had become a strategic priority, but acknowledged the region wanted to see greater US engagement “across the board”.

“But you are particularly focused on areas where our presence at times has been underrated,” Clinton said, identifying economic interrogation and development as two areas she wanted to address.

“We have more investment in ASEAN than we have in China. That is a surprising fact to many people in our country,” Clinton noted.

Southeast is Asia's safe haven as China, India stumble

Thu Jul 12, 2012
By Nishant Kumar and Stuart Grudgings

REUTERS - Little more than a dozen years after the region's crippling financial crisis, Southeast Asia is looking more a safe haven than a risky bet, with foreign investors souring on China and India and pouring money into markets proving resilient to the global gloom.

Short-term investors in Southeast Asian stocks and bonds are being overtaken by those with a longer-term horizon, signalling growing confidence in a region of 600 million people that boasts a rapidly growing middle-class.

Foreign investment in regional funds is at a record high.

Assets managed by offshore mutual and exchange traded funds dedicated to Southeast Asia rose to more than $26 billion in March, according to an analysis of Lipper data. Four-fifths of the assets are in actively-managed funds, with the rest in shorter-term ETFs.

Southeast Asia to Sign Protocal to Declared Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone

2012-07-05
Xinhua

After 12 years of negotiations, the five recognized nuclear-weapon states (P5) finally agree to sign on the protocol to the treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) next Thursday here, Cambodian senior officials said Thursday.

The P5 include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia. They are all going to sign the protocol on July 12 here during an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting with those countries' foreign ministers, Koy Kuong, spokesman for Cambodia's ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, told Xinhua.

"As the chair of 2012 ASEAN, Cambodia is pleased to see all the five recognized nuclear-weapon states to sign the protocol," he said. "Their upcoming signatures reflect their support for the SEANWFZ."

“Buddhism and politics in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand” by Martin Stuart-Fox (2006)

https://www.box.com/s/44db25e8a082f9e8e404

Road to democracy in SE Asia long, bleak

05/03/2012
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The international world may have celebrated the emergence of democracy in Myanmar, when the country held its by-elections on April 1, and become hopeful of further changes in Southeast Asia, but democracy is not being fully implemented in the region, a meeting concluded.

The Second Meeting of the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy in Jakarta on Tuesday agreed that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the umbrella organization that manages cooperation between 10 member countries in the region, had not been successful in bringing about a uniform shift toward democracy as it currently had only two member countries that could claim to be democracies: Indonesia and the Philippines.

Other members still have either monarchial or authoritarian governments with just one ruling party. Cambodia and Singapore are examples of one-party states.

In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen seized power from the then co-prime minister Prince Ranariddh in 1997 and has been in power since, while King Norodom Sihamoni’s role is largely ceremonial.

Australia: Calls To Promote Human Rights In Southeast Asia

April 16, 2012
Eurasia Review

Australia should make human rights a priority in developing closer ties with Southeast Asian countries, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Australia’s new foreign minister, Bob Carr. On a recent trip to Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam, Carr focused on the importance of Southeast Asian countries as friends and trading partners, but said little about the rights of people in the region.

“Trade alone is not enough for the people of Southeast Asia who are being denied their basic freedoms,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “As a longstanding successful democracy, Australia is uniquely poised to talk frankly with the region’s leaders about addressing specific human rights concerns.”

The letter discusses human rights issues in Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam where pressure from Australia could advance human rights protections.

EU to strengthen trade, investment relations with South-East Asia

PHNOM PENH, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The European Union aims to open up new trade and business opportunities in this fast growing region and create strong partnerships which support ASEAN's economic integration.

In a statement released Wednesday by EU office in Cambodia, it said the European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will head to Cambodia on Thursday to meet with ASEAN economic ministers and attend the second ASEAN-EU Business Summit on April 1.

"EU is increasing its economic ties with South-East Asia by opening negotiations for free trade agreements with Singapore and Malaysia in 2010 and remains open to start negotiating similar comprehensive free trade agreements with other partners in the region," the statement said.

US official says military pacts not aimed at China

Thursday, December 08, 2011
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — The strengthening of U.S. military alliances in Asia is not aimed at containing China, a top Pentagon official said Thursday after annual defense talks that reflected Chinese misgivings about America's regional agenda but also offered the possibility of more robust ties between the two militaries.

China has been concerned by a renewed focus on the Asia Pacific by the U.S. military as it winds down operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including plans to rotate 2,500 Marines to Australia for training and strengthened military ties with allies Japan and the Philippines as well as former enemy Vietnam.

Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy said she told her Chinese counterparts, including Gen. Ma Xiaotian, that the moves were aimed at reassuring countries in the region of the continuing U.S. presence and boosting defense interoperability with Australia.

UN Reports Growing Use of Synthetic Drugs In Asia

A policeman stands guard near bags of methamphetamine pills during the 39th Destruction of Confiscated Narcotics in Ayutthaya province, nearly 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok, June 24, 2011. About 5,844 kg (12,884 lbs) of drugs, among them methamphetamines, marijuana, heroin and opium worth more than 7,400 million baht ($242 million) were destroyed to commemorate Drugs Free Day on June 26, according to the Thai Public Health Ministry. (Photo: Reuters)

Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Brian Padden, VOA | Jakarta

"We've seen a four fold increase in the seized methamphetamine seizures over the past couple of years.”

The United Nations released a report Tuesday documenting a significant expansion of illicit drug manufacturing, trafficking and use in East and Southeast Asia.

The report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime urges governments in the region to increase enforcement, prevention and treatment programs to contain the growing problem.

Gary Lewis, the U.N. Office of Drug and Crime regional representative for East Asia and the Pacific, said analysts are most concerned about the growing popularity of amphetamine-type stimulants, or ATS, drugs.

China's Wen warns "outside forces" off sea dispute

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attends the ASEAN-China Commemorative Summit on the sidelines of the ASEAN and Related Summits in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian island of Bali November 18, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Sonny Tumbelaka/Pool)

Fri Nov 18, 2011
By Ben Blanchard

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday that "outside forces" had no excuse to get involved in a complex dispute over the South China Sea, offering a veiled warning to the United States and others not to stick their noses into the sensitive issue.

But Wen also struck a softer line during a summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, offering $10 billion in loans and lines of credit and saying China only wanted to be friends.

China claims a large swathe of the South China Sea, which straddles key shipping lanes and is potentially rich in energy resources.

Southeast Asia caught between US and China

Benetton billboard of a photo montage with President Barack Obama kissing China's President Hu Jintao

Charles Platiau/Reuters

Friday, November 18, 2011
By Anwar Faruqi (AFP)

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Indonesia has warned deploying US Marines in Australia could cause regional tensions, highlighting the balancing act nations face as Washington and Beijing jostle for influence in Asia.

China's regional neighbours welcome the United States' diplomatic campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power, and create a counterbalance to the Asian superpower's growing might, but can ill afford to alienate Beijing.

President Barack Obama announced in Canberra on Wednesday that the US would deploy up to 2,500 Marines in the northern city of Darwin, rankling China which termed it "not quite appropriate".

More than 1,000 die in Southeast Asian floods

November 14, 2011
AFP

At least one thousand people have died in massive floods across Southeast Asia in recent months, according to an AFP tally on November 10, and millions of homes and livelihoods have been destroyed.

The death toll in Thailand - grappling with its worst floods in half a century - has reached 533, the government said, and the slowly advancing waters are now threatening the heart of Bangkok, a city of 12 million people.

In neighbouring Cambodia, the most severe floods in over a decade have killed 248 people, the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest flood report.

Climate change to bring more floods: World Bank

November 14, 2011
AFP

Climate change will bring more floods and extreme weather to Southeast Asia, a World Bank official said on November 10 on a visit to the region, where hundreds have died in severe inundation.

"What we are seeing is there are more floods, more extreme weather events, higher temperature, more variable rainfalls and we believe that is caused by climate change.

And we should expect this to increase, sadly," Andrew Steer, the World Bank's special envoy for climate change, told reporters in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Thailand's worst floods in half a century have killed 533 people and damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions around the country.

Southeast Asia: U.s. Completing Asian NATO To Confront China

November 6, 2011
By Rick Rozoff
opednews.com

Since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization adopted its first Strategic Concept for the 21st century a year ago this month in Portugal, and in the process all but formalized the bloc as a global military intervention force, discussion has been rife concerning a collective partnership with the 54-nation African Union, a "mini-NATO" in the Persian Gulf and another in the Arctic Ocean and the Baltic Sea, the culmination of the transformation of the Mediterranean into a NATO sea and the effective "NATOization" of the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). [1-5]

The U.S.-dominated military alliance, whose current American ambassador, Ivo Daalder, for years has advocated becoming a full-fledged global NATO (in one instance in an article with that precise title), expanded from 16 to 28 full members in the decade beginning in 1999 and has over forty partners in four continents outside the Euro-Atlantic zone under the auspices of programs like the Partnership for Peace in Europe and Asia, the Mediterranean Dialogue in Africa and the Middle East, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative in the Persian Gulf, the Contact Country format in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea), Annual National Programs with Georgia and Ukraine, the Afghanistan-Pakistan-International Security Assistance Force Tripartite Commission, the NATO-Russia Council, the NATO Training Mission-Iraq and NATO-Training Mission -- Afghanistan (with a Libyan version to follow), a bilateral agreement with the Transitional

Federal Government in Somalia where NATO has airlifted thousands of Ugandan and Burundian troops for the war there and other arrangements.