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US diplomat for East Asia to strengthen ties with allies

By Shaun Tandon | AFP

Kurt Campbell, the nominee for the post of Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, seen in an undated file photo. Campbell pledged to raise human rights, religious freedom for all China’s citizens and the development of the rule of law and civil society while engaging with China on 9 June 2009.File photo/Photographer unknown

The nominee to be the top US dipomat for East Asia has vowed to re-engage the continent, saying US leadership has been sorely lacking at a time of growing clout across the Pacific.

Kurt Campbell, tapped by President Barack Obama as assistant secretary of state, pledged a special effort to strengthen ties with US allies in the region — naming Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Thailand.

“The United States must step up its game in the Asia-Pacific region,” Campbell told his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“There is a perception, I think, among many friends in this region that we have been preoccupied away from this area during an incredibly consequential time,” Campbell said.

Campbell, an academic and former naval officer, said the United States must first of all show up, indirectly criticising the previous George W. Bush team for missing some of the regional meetings held dear by Asian policymakers.

“Clearly there are important things the United States has to do in the Middle East and elsewhere,” he said. “But over the course of the next seven years we must do more in the Asia-Pacific region. It is absolutely essential for our standing.”

Amid an escalating standoff with North Korea, Campbell vowed not to give in to the communist regime’s demands to be recognised as a nuclear weapons state.

But Campbell made clear his job would be about more than North Korea. His predecessor Christopher Hill, now the US ambassador to Iraq, was the architect of a six-nation disarmament deal from which Pyongyang stormed out in April.

The Obama administration has named Stephen Bosworth to a new envoy position handling North Korea.

Campbell, echoing the line of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, voiced hope of developing a broader relationship with China including cooperation on climate change, North Korea and on fighting extremism in Pakistan.

But Campbell pledged not to shy away from raising China’s treatment of its citizens, including Tibetans.

“If confirmed, I will ensure that human rights, religious freedom for all China’s citizens and the development of the rule of law and civil society remain strong pillars of our engagement,” Campbell said.

He also stressed the need for the United States to work closely with its regional allies — particularly Japan — as China’s role grows in the world.

“China’s rise has enormous implications for the United States but more directly and more urgently in the short term for Japan,” Campbell said.

“My approach to this is that the best way to engage China is with the strongest possible partnership with Japan,” he said.

Campbell, who served in the Pentagon under former president Bill Clinton, said that the US military presence in Asia was “our ticket to the big game.” The United States stations around 70,000 troops in Japan and South Korea.

“We are the guarantors of peace and stability, the one nation in the region that most people want to have around,” he said. “That presence has to be sustained and nurtured.”

Campbell also said that the United States had paid insufficient attention to Southeast Asia. He hoped to deepen US ties with Indonesia into a “comprehensive partnership between two of the world’s most important democracies.”

He also called for renewed focus on the Philippines and Thailand, the two most longstanding US allies in Asia, as well as cooperation with Australia.

Clinton picked Asia for her first overseas trip as secretary of state, touring Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China.

However, the administration’s Asia record has not been spared criticism with observers pointing out that key posts — including Campbell’s own — have been left vacant months into Obama’s presidency.

Commentators in India, which would not fall under Campbell’s brief, have also complained of insufficient attention to the emerging democratic power. Clinton is expected to visit India in the coming months.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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