US MUST SIGN TREATY FOR BETTER ENGAGEMENT WITH ASEAN

BANGKOK, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The incoming United States administration under
Barack Obama has been told by experts on US-Asia relationship to sign the
long-overdue Asean Treaty of Amity of Cooperation (TAC) if it wants to have
greater engagement with southeast Asian countries.

The recommendation, contained in the "America's Role In Asia: Asian and
American View" book, which is the culmination of a year-long project on US-Asian
relations, has been handed over to Obama's transition team, said Asia
Foundation's Director of International Programme, John J. Brandon.

"The various recommendations made by the experts have been given to Obama's
transition team to consider. I was given the impression that they viewed it
favourably but there will be no decision until Jan 20 (when Obama is sworn
in as president)," Brandon said at a forum here.

Brandon, whose San Francisco-based organisation funded the project, said
that while Asian countries, including the 10-member Asean, looked for greater
engagement in the region from Obama's team, they could not expect much as the
country's first black president would be facing two wars, a severe economic
crisis, high unemployment rates, US$2 trillion debts and many more domestic
issues.

"It's good that Thailand and the US have long and uninterrupted ties. But as
the chair of Asean, the US will be looking at how Thailand is able to lead the
grouping amid three elections in Indonesia this year, its own domestic problem
or political changes in Malaysia and economic challenges in other countries,' he
said.

How Thailand helped Asean to work with the US was critical, he said, adding
that the enforcement of the Asean Charter, which came to force last month, and
the issue of Myanmar would play critical roles in how the region shaped its ties
with the world super power.

"But if I'm from the region, I won't give a laundry list on what to do.
Instead, let's first concentrate on issues like climate change and energy
security as Asia is a very important region in this aspects," he said.

In her article, Georgetown University's Director of Thai Studies, Catharin
Dalpino, said that to mitigate the problems the US brings to its relations with
Asean, signing the TAC was probably the best short-term measure available to
improve relations with the region, and for that reason alone, it was a step
worth taking.

"A secondary, but still important, reason is to give the United States a
seat at the table of the East Asia Summit. To date, EAS meetings have not
produced major initiatives, but there is growing acknowledgement that the summit
is a permanent fixture in the Asian regional framework,' she said.

Dalpino said the US security community had thus far opposed signing the TAC,
fearing that its pledge to resolve disputes without force would constrain the US
military power in Asia.
-- BERNAMA