Thursday, 12 July 2012
Cheang Sokha and David Boyle
Phnom Penh Post 
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday told delegates at the
ASEAN Regional Forum her country would put “our money where our mouth
is” with its regional development assistance, starting with a down
payment she would announce in coming days.
Clinton said that
under the Obama administration, Asia had become a strategic priority,
but acknowledged the region wanted to see greater US engagement “across
the board”.
“But you are particularly focused on areas where our
presence at times has been underrated,” Clinton said, identifying
economic interrogation and development as two areas she wanted to
address.
“We have more investment in ASEAN than we have in China.
That is a surprising fact to many people in our country,” Clinton
noted.
An overview of US relations published by ASEAN puts US-ASEAN trade at roughly US$186 billion in 2010.
“On
development assistance, frankly speaking, people in the region are
asking us to put ‘our money where our mouth is’ to borrow an American
phrase, so we’ve created an initiative to reinvigorate our assistance
programs to ASEAN,” Clinton said.
The Asia Pacific Strategic
Engagement Initiative will be kickstarted with a down payment, though
Clinton did not provide specific details as to what the money would
contribute to.
In a sidelines meeting of the Lower Mekong
Initiative, a US delegate announced that the package will include US$50
million in assistance over three years, to be focused on the lower
Mekong.
“It’s going to address a new environmental program … that
we will support essentially better information [about the]
environmental impacts of new infrastructure developments in the region,”
she said.
The Strategic Engagement will focus on health,
particularly on efforts to combat multi-drug resistant malaria,
education partnerships and women’s policy issues.
“Finally, we
are announcing a grant to the Mekong River Commission to support and
strengthen their work on sustainable fisheries as well as support a
study that the Mekong River Commission can undertake on advancing the
technical analysis of information gaps that exist … on how various
infrastructure investments impact on broader issues of environment,” she
added.
In a chairman’s statement issued yesterday evening,
ASEAN wrote that it welcomed efforts by the US to increase investment in
the Lower Mekong region.
While Clinton’s cash-splash is aimed at
“reinvigorating” US engagement in the region, the Chinese delegation
placed emphasis on China’s long and generous history of support and
engagement with ASEAN nations.
“The Chinese minister mentioned that the world is changing over
the past 20 years of our relationship [with ASEAN], and we have
witnessed great changes in the region, most importantly the growth of
Asia, and in spite of the instability in international fields, Asia
remains stable and the economy is vibrant,” Vice Foreign Minister Fu
Ying said after the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting.
“In spite of
the changes of the environment, and in spite of the interferences from
here and there, China will not change its determination to pursue a
peaceful development and a relationship with its neighbours.
“Its policy to continue mutually beneficial co-operation with ASEAN will not change, will not be shaken,” she stressed.
When
the first ASEAN-China meeting was held in 2007, bilateral trade at that
time was about $200 billion. This has increased to $330 billion over
the past five years, Ying said.
“There are good opportunities for ASEAN countries and, likewise, ASEAN growth is a good opportunity for China.”
Trade with, and investment in, ASEAN are at the heart of Clinton’s tour of this summit.
Clinton
said yesterday at the ASEAN-US Ministerial Meeting that regional issues
of central importance to the US included maritime security,
non-proliferation and economic growth, an area where she conceded there
was still much to be done.
“This week, I have assembled and led
the largest ever delegation of American business executives to Cambodia,
and we will attend the first US-ASEAN business forum on Friday in Siem
Reap, to lay the groundwork for economic connections and mutual
prosperity for a long time to come,” she said.
Eang Sophalleth,
spokesman for Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters after a sidelines
meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Clinton, that Clinton had
told the ASEAN chair that the US has already showed its desire to push
more in-depth relations between the US and ASEAN in the fields of
disaster management, education, business, trade and investment.
To contact the reporters on this story: Cheang Sokha at sokha.cheang@phnompenhpost.com
David Boyle at david.boyle@phnompenhpost.com
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