The United States will continue its engagement with Southeast Asia beyond President Barack Obama’s administration, reports Channel NewsAsia quoting US Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Nina Hachigian

The US-ASEAN Summit will be held in Sunnylands, California on 15-16 February.

‘Washington is investing in the ten-member bloc as it is in the country’s national interest to do so, Hachigian said, emphasising the US’s promised continuity.’

‘You can count on us being here and focusing on Southeast Asia no matter who the next president is,’ said the ambassador.

‘The United States is the largest investor in ASEAN, and ASEAN is our fourth largest trading partner. They account for half a million jobs in the United States, and millions of jobs in Southeast Asia because our companies hire locally.’

An unprecedented gathering

This year will be Obama’s final year in office after serving two ter as President. During his time at the White House, the US president has elevated US-ASEAN relations to an all-time high.

As a sign of his commitment to engage with the region, he established in 2010 a dedicated mission and Jakarta-based ambassador to ASEAN, making the US the first non-ASEAN country to do so.

In November, Obama met ASEAN leaders during regional summits in Malaysia. About four months later, they will be meeting again in Sunnylands, an unprecedented gathering hosted by Washington for Southeast Asian leaders.

According to a research professor at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar, the decades-old US-ASEAN engagement will continue but the emphasis on issues will shift from time to time. However, ASEAN may no longer enjoy the touch of personal interest  Obama has brought the region.

‘There is the perception that the White House under President Barack Obama has been particularly friendly towards ASEAN, and has given sufficient attention to ASEAN. That continues to be appreciated by all of the ASEAN countries,’ Dr Dewi said.

‘So, the question is whether in the next administration, the kind of personal attention will also be given here. In ter of personal interest, how many would-be American presidents grew up in Jakarta?’

A proxy theatre of big-power competition

At the US-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, US-ASEAN relations were raised to a strategic partnership.

Later this month, leaders from both sides are expected to discuss further how to deepen this partnership when they meet in California.

Among other issues likely to be discussed is, according to political analysts such as Dr Dewi, maritime security, given ASEAN members currently embroiled in territorial disputes in the South China Sea with China.

In response, Washington has raised concerns over the on-going conflict and urged that freedom of navigation in the vital shipping lane must be maintained. However, Dr Dewi called on ASEAN not to become a chessboard for big-power competition.

‘That’s why ASEAN countries need to work hard to strengthen regional autonomy to ensure that Southeast Asia is not going to be used as a proxy theatre for big-power conflicts. That’s why ASEAN needs to engage all major powers equally, because we believe that our survival also depends very much on good relations with all of the major powers, and to ensure that the major powers do not have an opportunity to exploit internal weaknesses for their own end,’ she said.

‘I do not like to see China looking at ASEAN simply as a tool in its power game with the US, and certainly I will not like to see the US only looking at ASEAN as a pawn to be played against its game vis-a-vis China.’

Sunnylands Summit won’t be about China

However, Washington insisted the unprecedented summit in Sunnylands will not be about China and that the country is interested in Southeast Asia ‘for its own sake’.

‘We’re interested in ASEAN for its own sake. This is a region of 600 million people and more. We have more invested here than we do in China. We have a lot of stake in this region,’ said  Hachigian.

‘It really doesn’t have anything to do with China. We do think that ASEAN is stabilising geopolitically. There are lots of big powers in this region, not only China.’

According to the ambassador, the United States wants to help ASEAN build up innovation and entrepreneurship, as the bloc expressed its desire to become ‘an even more competitive, dynamic and innovative region’.

‘Innovation and entrepreneurship are particular strengths of the US economy. So, you might see the leaders talking about that, whether we can share lessons learnt and the mistakes we’ve made, and the successes that we’ve had in the United States. So, that’s one area to look out for.’