Sunnylands meet should set tone for future US-Asean engagement

THE transformation of US-South-east Asian relations is the least heralded and yet most forward-looking element of President Barack Obama's rebalance to Asia.

At the Sunnylands summit this week, the president is hosting for the first time on American soil a gathering with all 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Asean straddles the global economy's most crucial waterway, the South China Sea, and is America's fourth largest trading partner. But more than this, the nearly half-century-old institution represents the best hope for future collective action in a vital region where the rule of law, the peaceful resolution of disputes, economic growth, and moderate Islam are all under assault.

Mr Obama's pivot to Asia was a declaration of American will and power to prevent the Indo-Pacific from coming under the exclusive sway of an expansionist power. The geographical focus of the rebalance ranges from Australia in the east to India in the west. This gigantic swathe of strategic territory includes America's North-east Asian allies, Japan and South Korea. It stretches to India, the countervailing rise of which is already challenging an assertive China.