ID :
117089
Fri, 04/16/2010 - 20:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/117089
The shortlink copeid
TOP US DIPLOMAT IN ASIA SEES LIFT-OFF IN US-MALAYSIA RELATIONS
KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Dr Kurt Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, feels that US-Malaysia ties are poised for a quiet lift-off following the recent bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and President Barack Obama, the Singapore Straits Times reported Friday.
In a despatch from Washington, its correspondent, Tracy Quek, quoted Dr
Campbell as saying that Najib's 40-minute face-to-face meeting with Obama marked
a new beginning in bilateral ties and that it was one of the three best
bilateral meetings between two leaders that he had seen in his past 10 years of
experience.
"I'm fairly bullish, I'm trying not to over-commit here, but I think you
have all the ingredients for a careful, quiet lift-off in US-Malaysia
relations," the top US diplomat in Asia said at a forum on US-Malaysia
relations, organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, two
days after the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security
Summit.
The two leaders discussed a wide range of topics including trade, support
for US efforts to stabilise and rebuild Afghanistan, and Malaysia's newly
introduced economic reforms designed to transform the country from a middle- to
high-income nation over the next decade.
Dr Campbell also paid tribute TO the growing maturity of the US-Malaysia
relationship as a whole as Najib and Obama had been able "to talk not only about
the issues on which we are closely aligned, but also on issues of some challenge
without getting our feelings immediately hurt."
He had earlier alluded to the turbulence in US-Malaysia ties IN the past,
adding that "some of us remember a complicated period in the 1990s where on the
military side we were going extraordinarily well but politically, occasionally
we would get bogged down in rhetorical flourishes."
But Dr Campbell, who had served in several capacities in government, said he
now noted that there had been a substantial change in tone in the bilateral ties
in that "what we receive from (our) Malaysian friends is, 'You are welcome,
visit often, we want a strong relationship with you'."
-- BERNAMA
In a despatch from Washington, its correspondent, Tracy Quek, quoted Dr
Campbell as saying that Najib's 40-minute face-to-face meeting with Obama marked
a new beginning in bilateral ties and that it was one of the three best
bilateral meetings between two leaders that he had seen in his past 10 years of
experience.
"I'm fairly bullish, I'm trying not to over-commit here, but I think you
have all the ingredients for a careful, quiet lift-off in US-Malaysia
relations," the top US diplomat in Asia said at a forum on US-Malaysia
relations, organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, two
days after the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security
Summit.
The two leaders discussed a wide range of topics including trade, support
for US efforts to stabilise and rebuild Afghanistan, and Malaysia's newly
introduced economic reforms designed to transform the country from a middle- to
high-income nation over the next decade.
Dr Campbell also paid tribute TO the growing maturity of the US-Malaysia
relationship as a whole as Najib and Obama had been able "to talk not only about
the issues on which we are closely aligned, but also on issues of some challenge
without getting our feelings immediately hurt."
He had earlier alluded to the turbulence in US-Malaysia ties IN the past,
adding that "some of us remember a complicated period in the 1990s where on the
military side we were going extraordinarily well but politically, occasionally
we would get bogged down in rhetorical flourishes."
But Dr Campbell, who had served in several capacities in government, said he
now noted that there had been a substantial change in tone in the bilateral ties
in that "what we receive from (our) Malaysian friends is, 'You are welcome,
visit often, we want a strong relationship with you'."
-- BERNAMA
