US rebalancing must include trade

SINCE President Barack Obama rolled out his Asia rebalancing strategy, much of the attention in Washington has been on the military side of this policy that's set to shift American geo-strategy from a Middle Eastern/European focus to an East/South Asian one. Indeed, the reorientation of America's focus towards Asia signalled an important military change: the reconfiguration of the ratio of American military power from its 50-50 split between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to 60-40. Some critics of the new US strategy of "pivoting" to Asia argued that by shifting more American military resources to Asia, Washington was trying to exploit the tensions between Beijing and other governments in the region - in particular, the territorial disputes between China and nations in South-east Asia - as part of an effort to diplomatically and militarily contain China.

US officials have denied this criticism and stressed that Washington wanted to ensure that the South-east Asian nations would not have to choose sides among major powers, particularly the US and China. Speaking at a recent forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice said that South-east Asia was facing serious questions about how to adapt as several major powers become more active there. "China's rise, Japan's re-emergence, India's revival, and, of course, America's rebalance, these dynamics are real, and they converge squarely in South-east Asia," she stressed. "But these trends are opportunities for greater cooperation, not just competition."

Governments in South-east Asia share Ms Rice's sentiments and welcome America's intention to expand its presence in the region, and agree with her that the new strategy was not being aimed against China and should create the conditions for regional cooperation. But these same governments have expressed certain uneasiness that the heavy emphasis on the military component of the rebalancing policy may have distracted attention from the economic side of the equation. As Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam noted during the Brookings Institution event, while South-east Asia welcomed the new US policy, it also recognised that the rebalancing cannot only be military. "It has to be economic as well," he said.