Fw: [CLBcSVVNtNB] địa chính trị Thái Bình Dương

From: binh nguyen <binh_nguyen98@yahoo.com>

Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 12:29 PM
Subject: [CLBcSVVNtNB] địa chính trị Thái Bình Dương
http://tuanvietnam.vietnamnet.vn/2011-11-15-quanh-viec-chia-lai-cau-truc-dia-chinh-tri-thai-binh-duong

Quanh việc chia lại cấu trúc địa chính trị Thái Bình Dương

Tác giả: C. RAJA MOHAN

Khi Đông Á đang nỗ lực đối phó những thách thức an ninh biển đang gia tăng ở khu vực Tây Thái Bình Dương – bao gồm thay đổi cán cân quyền lực, căng thẳng tranh chấp trên biển và bất đồng cơ bản về cách giải thích Luật Biển – có ba câu chuyện mới sẽ góp phần xác định lại cấu trúc địa chính trị khu vực.

Câu chuyện thứ nhất là sự công nhận ngày càng rộng rãi về việc các vấn đề an ninh biển ở Đông Á phải được giải quyết trong khuôn khổ rộng hơn của khu vực Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương. Thứ hai là sự suy yếu của Mỹ, nước bảo đảm an ninh chính ở Ấn Độ Dương và Thái Bình dương trong suốt nhiều thập niên qua. Thứ ba là sự thay đổi trong định hướng biển của Ấn Độ, từ một tác nhân đơn lẻ sang một đối tác sẵn sàng xây dựng liên minh trên biển.

Kết hợp ba luồng xu hướng này mở ra không gian cho Delhi và Canberra tích cực tham vấn nhau hơn về các vấn đề trên biển và xác lập khuôn khổ hợp tác an ninh trong các vùng biển đang biến động không ngừng ở châu Á.

Theo truyền thống, Thái Bình Dương và Ấn Độ Dương luôn được coi là hai thế giới khác nhau và độc lập với nhau. Những diễn biến gần đây bắt đầu củng cố quan điểm thống nhất hơn về Thái Bình Dương và Ấn Độ Dương. Tăng trưởng cao của Đông Á đã tạo ra những mối liên kết kinh tế vững chắc hơn với khu vực Tây Á và với châu Phi giàu tài nguyên.

Không giống như nhiều nước Đông Á phải phụ thuộc vào Mỹ để duy trì trật tự tại vùng biển sâu của châu Á, Trung Quốc đang xây dựng một lực lượng hải quân có tiềm lực và độc lập để đảm bảo các lợi ích mới của mình ở Ấn Độ Dương.

Bắc Kinh cũng đang phát triển các hành lang vận tải biển và đường ống dẫn dầu từ Ấn Độ Dương qua Tây và Tây Nam Trung Quốc. Nước này cũng tích cực xây dựng các cơ sở hạ tầng hàng hải chiến lược ở Ấn Độ Dương.

Mặt khác, khi quan hệ thương mại và kinh tế của Ấn Độ với Đông Á có trọng lượng lớn hơn, chính sách "Hướng Đông" của New Delhi cũng đã bao gồm một quy mô hải quân lớn hơn.

Những khác biệt rõ rệt trước đây giữa Ấn Độ Dương và Thái Bình Dương sau đó cũng đang bắt đầu mờ dần. Trong khi Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương luôn có những tiểu vùng nhỏ, mỗi vùng lại có những vấn đề an ninh đặc trưng, thì sự trỗi dậy của Trung Quốc và Ấn Độ đã mang đến một đặc điểm địa chính trị rõ ràng.

Nếu như sự trỗi dậy của các cường quốc mới ở Đông Á là một phần trong quá trình chuyển dịch cơ cấu đang diễn ra trong hệ thống quốc tế, thì sự suy giảm tương đối nhanh của Mỹ trong bối cảnh khủng hoảng kinh tế và tài chính đã lan rộng ra cả thế giới từ năm 2007 cũng vậy.

Những nghi ngờ về tính bền vững và độ tin cậy của các liên minh với Mỹ ở khu vực Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương vì thế cũng không tránh khỏi nảy sinh. Giờ đây Washington đang phải đối mặt với những thách thức thực sự trong việc đảm bảo hài hòa các nguồn lực tài chính và quân sự đang dần eo hẹp với các cam kết ở Ấn Độ Dương và Thái Bình Dương.

Chắc chắn, Mỹ sẽ vẫn là một thế lực quân sự hùng mạnh nhất ở châu Á trong thời gian dài tới. Tuy nhiên, sự hiện diện từ sớm của Mỹ ở Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương sẽ gặp khó khăn do hoạt động chạy đua tăng cường tiềm lực quân sự hiện đại trong khu vực và việc theo đuổi chiến lược hai mặt của các đối thủ cạnh tranh, đặc biệt là Trung Quốc và Iran.

Washington vẫn liên tục khẳng định sẽ vẫn duy trì vai trò "cường quốc khu vực" ở Tây Thái Bình Dương và Ấn Độ Dương, và chính quyền Obama đã hiện thực hóa các tuyên bố đó bằng việc ra sức tập trung các hoạt động ngoại giao với châu Á trong hai năm qua.

Mỹ đang tái bố trí lại lực lượng quân đội ở Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương để nâng cao tính hiệu quả, điều chỉnh lại học thuyết quân sự nhằm đối phó với các thách thức mới xuất phát từ thực tế như việc từ chối tiếp nhận các căn cứ quân sự Mỹ của một số nước hay sắp xếp lại các quan hệ đối tác an ninh.

Củng cố các liên minh truyền thống với Nhật bản và Australia và xây dựng quan hệ đối tác an ninh mới với các nước như Ấn Độ cũng trở thành trọng tâm trong chiến lược mới của Mỹ, như một biện pháp để chia sẻ gánh nặng. Chuyển hướng chiến lược biển của Delhi một mở ra một nền tảng hoàn hảo cho cách tiếp cận mới này của Mỹ với Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương.

Ấn Độ nằm ở vị trí trung tâm trong chiến lược an ninh của Anh ở Ấn Độ Dương từ cuối thế kỷ 18 đến giữa thế kỷ 20. Ấn Độ cung cấp các nguồn lực vô cùng cần thiết để duy trì hòa bình và ổn định trong khu vực Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương trong thời cai trị của Anh.

Sau khi giành độc lập và phân chia lãnh thổ năm 1947 (thành Liên bang Ấn Độ và Lãnh thổ tự trị Pakistan), Ấn Độ phải tập trung bảo vệ biên giới đất liền mới với Pakistan và Trung Quốc. Chính sách kinh tế hướng nội và chính sách đối ngoại không liên kết các khiến cho vấn đề biển không được coi trọng tại Ấn Độ.

Trong chiến tranh lạnh, Ấn Độ theo chủ trương không can thiệp quân sự và yêu cầu các cường quốc rời khỏi Ấn Độ Dương và để cho các quốc gia ven biển đang phát triển của khu vực tự quyết định hệ thống an ninh cho mình.

Cách tiếp cận thiếu thực tế của Delhi ở Ấn Độ Dương bắt đầu thay đổi từ những năm 1990 khi Ấn Độ mở cửa nền kinh tế và nối lại liên lạc với các nước láng giềng Ấn Độ Dương và các cường quốc hải quân lớn trên thế giới.

Khi Ấn Độ đã trở thành một quốc gia thương mại, như Trung Quốc trước đó, chính sách an ninh quốc gia của Ấn Độ hiển nhiên cũng sẽ đặt trọng tâm vào an ninh biển. Nhập khẩu năng lượng và tài nguyên khoáng sản, cũng như xuất khẩu hàng hóa ra các thị trường rải rác trên thế giới của Ấn Độ giờ đây phụ thuộc rất lớn vào vận tại biển, nghĩa là Ấn Độ chắc chắn cũng sẽ phải tính đến việc phát triển lực lượng hải quân.

Quan trọng không kém là sự thay đổi thái độ của Ấn Độ đối với vấn đề hợp tác quốc tế về biển. Kết thúc chiến tranh lạnh, Delhi sử từ bỏ chính sách không can thiệp quân sự và chấp nhận sự hiện diện của quân đội nước ngoài ở Ấn Độ Dương. Ấn Độ bắt đầu nhấn mạnh vấn đề can dự hải quân và hợp tác trên biển với tất cả các cường quốc, nhất là Mỹ. Ấn Độ cũng chủ trương mở rộng các liên kết hàng hải đã có từ với các quốc đảo nhỏ ở Ấn Độ Dương và hợp tác với các tác nhân lớn trong khu vực dựa trên khuôn khổ song phương và đa phương.

Từ bỏ quan điểm truyền thống phản đối hành động quân sự bên ngoài khuôn khổ Liên hợp quốc, Ấn Độ đã bắt đầu tham gia vào các chiến dịch chung, đáng kể nhất là chiến dịch cứu trợ sau trận sóng thần ở Ấn Độ Dương cuối năm 2004.

Ấn Độ còn từng bước tăng cường các cuộc tập trận hải quân đa bên, với sự tham gia của Mỹ và các đồng minh châu Á. Tuy nhiên, điều này không có nghĩa Ấn Độ đã chấm dứt mục tiêu tự chủ chiến lược hay từ bỏ nguyên tắc chính sách đối ngoại độc lập.

Delhi đã đưa vào những lý thuyết cũ ấy một cách nhìn thực tế hơn, tập trung phát triển cách tiếp cận mang tính hợp tác về vấn đề an ninh trên biển tại Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương. Với tiềm lực kinh tế và hải quân ngày một vững chắc, Ấn Độ đã tự tin hơn trong tư duy về không gian đại dương xung quanh mình.

Không gian an ninh của Ấn Độ trước đây được xác định trong phạm vi từ vịnh Eden đến Malacca. Hiện tại, khu vực nằm trong an ninh quốc gia của Ấn Độ không còn gói gọn từ eo biển Malacca trở lại nữa mà đã mở rộng sang cả Biển Đông.

Quyết tâm làm sâu sắc quan hệ hợp tác hải quân với Việt Nam của Delhi, cam kết tiến hành thăm dò dầu khí ở vùng biển của Việt Nam bất chấp sự phản đối của Trung Quốc, ủng hộ mạnh mẽ giải quyết hòa bình các tranh chấp lãnh thổ trên Biển Đông, và nhấn mạnh tự do đi lại trên Tây Thái Bình Dương đã thu hút nhiều sự quan tâm ở Đông Á. Lợi ích mới của Ấn Độ ở Thái Bình Dương cũng giống như lợi ích của Trung Quốc ở Ấn Độ Dương. Ấn Độ không muốn đối đầu với Trung Quốc ở Tây Thái Bình Dương hay cản trở nước này hiện diện trên Ấn Độ Dương. Ấn Độ tìm kiếm một trật tự trên Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương để làm sao các không gian chung trên biển ở châu Á luôn mở cửa và có thể tiếp cận cho tất cả các bên và không bên nào được lấy làm lãnh thổ dù dưới danh nghĩa chủ nghĩa dân tộc hay yêu sách lịch sử.

Ấn Độ và Australia đều là hai quốc gia thương mại, kế thừa truyền thống Anglo-Saxon về hệ thống Thông luật và định hướng biển. Hai nước cũng chia sẻ nhiều giá trị chung của chủ nghĩa tư bản doanh nghiệp và đa nguyên chính trị.

Không giống như trong Chiến tranh Lạnh, khi Delhi và Canberra còn bất đồng, thường rất gay gắt, về Ấn Độ Dương, giờ đây họ có chung lợi ích trong việc củng cố ổn định và an ninh trên Ấn Độ - Thái Bình Dương, hài hòa với các nước khác.

Ấn Độ và Australia đã tuyên bố mong muốn triển hợp tác an ninh trên biển. Tuy nhiên, sự biến đổi mau lẹ trong thực tiễn địa chính trị ở Ấn Độ  - Thái Bình Dương đòi hỏi Delhi và Canberra phải nhanh chóng biến tư duy ấy thành những hành động chính sách quyết định.

Ấn Độ và Australia phải thiết lập cơ chế tham vấn và phối hợp chung trong các diễn đàn hiện nay như Tổ chức Hợp tác khu vực vành đai Ấn Độ Dương (IOR-ARC) và Hội nghị Chuyên đề Hải quân ở Ấn Độ Dương (IONS).

Tổ chức IOR-ARC, với sự tham gia của 18 quốc gia ven biển, có mục tiêu củng cố sâu sắc quan hệ hợp tác kinh tế trong khu vực Ấn Độ Dương, nhưng còn rất yếu ớt. Delhi, hiện đang giữ chức chủ tịch, và Canberra, chủ tịch luân phiên tiếp theo, sẽ có cơ hội đưa thêm sức sống và quyết tâm vào IOR-ARC trong những năm tới đây.

IONS là sáng kiến gần đây của Ấn Độ, tập hợp các Tham mưu trưởng Hải quân các quốc gia ven biển để trao đổi và hợp tác chuyên môn về các vấn đề liên quan tới an ninh trên biển.

Cuối cùng, khu vực Ấn Độ Dương quá rộng lớn và đa dạng nên không thể tự đặt mình vào một khuôn khổ thể chế bao quát toàn bộ duy nhất nhất trong tương lai gần. Thay vì cố gắng thiết kế cấu trúc cho Ấn Độ Dương, khu vực có thể xây dựng dựa trên ý tưởng của Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Australia Kevin Rudd về "tiến bộ từng bước" thông qua "hợp tác chức năng".

Đóng vai trò trung tâm trong việc tạo dựng một bản sắc toàn khu vực ở Ấn Độ Dương là sự hợp tác tích cực và lâu dài giữa Ấn Độ, Australia và các quốc gia ven biển cùng chung lý tưởng khác.

Đình  Ngân dịch từ The Asialink Essays 2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/15/asean-usa-southchinasea-idUSL3E7MF15D20111115

WRAPUP 1-Clinton in Manila amid ASEAN row over South China Sea

Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:04am EST

* Clinton arrives for two-day visit

* Philippines urges ASEAN to take united stand on sea claims

* Obama likely to address maritime security issues at weekend summit (Updates with background, details, more quotes)

By Manuel Mogato and Paul Eckert

MANILA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The Philippines criticised fellow Southeast Asian nations on Tuesday for failing to take a united stand against China over maritime rights in the South China Sea, a crucial commercial shipping lane thought to contain valuable oil and minerals.

The comments by Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario coincide with the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Manila for a two-day visit in which the Philippines is likely to press Washington to help resolve disputes in the sea lanes claimed by China.

"They're concerned from a security point of view and are looking at us to identify ways to work together," a senior U.S. defence official travelling with Clinton told reporters. "We're very sensitive to making sure that this does not in any way alarm or provoke anybody else."

Regional leaders gather in Bali, Indonesia, this week for back-to-back summits of the ASEAN and East Asia groupings where the issue is also expected to be raised.

The summits follow a meeting in Honolulu this past weekend of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Beijing claims that entire maritime region, which contains rich energy and fisheries resources, pitting it against coastal states Vietnam and the Philippines in a test of wills that erupted in violent clashes in recent years.

Diplomats in Vietnam and the Philippines have privately expressed concern that Beijing is using its economic influence on some members of the 10-state Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to prevent the regional bloc from steering negotiations over conflicting claims.

The Philippines has proposed a "Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation", or ZoPFFC, to define which areas are disputed and which are under the sovereignty of a country. That would pave the way for a joint cooperation area.

In the first sign of discord as regional foreign ministers met on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, del Rosario reprimanded Southeast Asia, suggesting it was failing to flex its diplomatic muscle in the face of pressure from China.

"We have been given the impression that political and economic considerations have hindered a fruitful and mutually acceptable outcome on the discussions of the ZoPFFC," Rosario said in a statement in Manila on Tuesday that was read by his deputy at an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Bali.

"ASEAN must play a decisive role at this time if it desires to realise its aspirations for global leadership."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose country holds the rotating ASEAN chairmanship, said the Philippine proposal failed to find traction in the region.

"The core problem is to define which areas are in dispute and which areas are not," he told reporters in Bali. "So to many countries, this almost appeared to be a non-starter."

OBAMA TO ADDRESS SECURITY

Maritime security will be front and centre when U.S. President Barack Obama attends the East Asia Summit in Bali this weekend, the first U.S. leader to join the annual meeting of Asian leaders and dialogue partners.

Obama is expected to respond to China's territorial sea claims which the Philippines and other U.S. allies regard as economically and militarily threatening.

Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei are other claimants to parts of the South China Sea. Those countries, along with the United States and Japan, have pressured Beijing to try and seek some way forward on sovereignty, which has flared again this year with often-tense maritime stand-offs.

But China, growing in confidence and military power, sees no reason to back down.

Countries such as the Philippines are increasingly concerned and fear their Asian allies will succumb to Beijing's influence on the issue.

Del Rosario said there was no full participation of ASEAN member states in an ASEAN Maritime Legal Experts' Meeting, making it difficult to reach consensus on the issue.

Manila hosted the legal experts' meeting in September but Laos and Cambodia -- both of which have benefited from waves of Chinese investment in recent years -- did not turn up despite indicating they would, preventing a joint position.

"ASEAN is now at a critical junction of playing a positive and meaningful role to contribute in the peaceful resolution of the disputes in the South China Sea," del Rosario said.

China and Taiwan also claim the whole of the world's second-busiest sea lane, which has rich deposits of oil and gas and is also a major fisheries resource.

Beijing wants to resolve the dispute through bilateral negotiations and has rejected calls for United Nations arbitration, but other claimants prefer a multilateral approach, including an indirect role for the United States.

Washington has supported Manila's multilateral and rules-based approach to resolve the issue and has pledged military assistance to upgrade the Philippines' ability to patrol its maritime borders in the area.

Clinton will sign a partnership agreement to mark 60th anniversary of the countries' Mutual Defence Treaty.

Briefing journalists travelling with Clinton, a senior U.S. state department official said Washington will continue efforts in the country's restive south to help fight Islamic militants but "are focusing more on maritime capabilities and other aspects of expeditionary military power."

"We are working on a whole list of things that improve their own indigenous capabilities to be able to deal with maritime challenges," he said, adding the U.S. has provided the Philippines with a destroyer and a second ship will come soon. (Additional reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. Editing by Jason Szep and Ed Lane)

Obama to vow bigger Asia footprint on Pacific tour

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/15/us-usa-australia-obama-idUSTRE7AE0B420111115

By Laura MacInnis and Caren Bohan

HONOLULU | Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:10am EST

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will unveil plans to deepen America's military presence in the Asia-Pacific region during a trip starting on Wednesday to Australia, where he aims to bolster ties with a staunch U.S. ally.

The winding down of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has opened the door to greater U.S. attention to simmering tension over the South China Sea, a shipping lane for more than $5 trillion in annual trade that the United States wants to keep open.

Fresh from hosting an Asia-Pacific trade summit in his native Hawaii, Obama is set to outline his vision for an expanded U.S. role in the region in an address to Australia's parliament in Canberra on Thursday.

He will then travel to the remote tropical city of Darwin -- a gateway to Southeast Asia -- and announce plans for thousands of U.S. maritime forces to train and do more joint exercises with the Australian military on the country's northern coast.

The agreement will not include any permanent U.S. basing, but an Obama administration official said it was a stepping stone to a more stable presence in Australia, which offers closer access to the South China Sea than America's bases in Japan and South Korea.

Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific command, said it was currently necessary to deploy forces across great distances to reach the shipping lane, which he described as "incredibly vital to the region, to our partners and allies, and certainly to the United States."

"Any opportunities that we have to locate forces in the Southeast Asia region relieves some pressure on that need to, at great expense, deploy and sustain forces present in Southeast Asia," Willard told reporters in Honolulu.

"Any rebalancing that can take place over time to permit the United States to more effectively be present in the region I think is a positive step," the commander said.

China claims the whole of the South China Sea although Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei hold rivals claims to at least parts of it. Tension occasionally flares up into maritime stand-offs.

Australia says hosting U.S. troops on Australian soil and the pre-positioning of U.S. supplies in Darwin is not the precursor to a U.S. base, but Australia's largest export market China may see it as further moves to encircle it.

"I think it well and truly possible for us in this growing region of the world to have an ally in the United States and to have deep friendships in our region, including with China," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Tuesday.

China's hunger for raw materials for its booming economy has cocooned Australia from the global economic downturn. China is Australia's biggest export market worth A$58 billion ($59 billion) in 2010, mainly from iron ore and coal sales.

Australia and the United States jointly operate an intelligence base at

Pine Gap in the outback and routinely take part in military exercises. But the Darwin deployment will be the largest in Australia since World War Two when General Douglas MacArthur moved his war headquarters there.

"SINGAPORE MODEL"

Deeper U.S.-Australia military ties should come as no surprise to China, given their alliance has seen their troops fight side by side in every major war , say analysts .

Darwin, nicknamed the "Pearl Harbour of Australia" after a World War Two Japanese raid dropped more bombs on the city than Japan dropped on Pearl Harbour, is only 820 km (500 miles) from Indonesia and with open access to the Indian Ocean.

"I think it will be something along the lines of the Singapore model ,"

said Rory Medcalf at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

" The U.S. has constant ship visits in and out of Singapore, it doesn't actually have a military base in Singapore, but it has such a constant presence in Singapore that it is almost the same thing," said Medcalf.

"There will be a regular U.S. presence that will obviously be on call in a future security crisis.

I think this is meant to complement the U.S. presence in Japan, Korea and elsewhere ."

In Canberra, Obama is likely to describe a range of U.S. strategic interests in Asia, including regional concerns about human and drug trafficking, piracy, violent extremism as well as the future of the Korean peninsula.

The United States is also looking to improve its military relationships with India, another key emerging economy with strong maritime and commercial interests in the region, and speed its response to humanitarian disasters across Asia.

"T he prospect of increased U.S. access to military bases in Australia ... would provide a building block for trilateral cooperation with India in the Indian Ocean ," said the Washington-based Heritage Foundation in a recent report on US-Australia-India strategic relations.

" India is slowly shifting its focus eastward to cope with expected increasing Chinese naval activity in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean and to enable India to project power into the Asia-Pacific. "

After the Australia tour, which marks his first visit as president, Obama will travel to Bali as the first U.S. president to attend the East Asian Summit, a diplomatic bloc that is admitting the United States and Russia this year.

There, he will seek to build on growing U.S. trade ties with smaller powers such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia and make clear that the United States is looking out for them with its greater focus on Asia.

Charles Kupchan, a Georgetown University professor, said Southeast Asian nations as well as Japan and South Korea were likely to welcome greater U.S. engagement in the region as a counterweight to China.

"They realize that China will be the dominant economic power in the region, and it is unclear what role China will play geopolitically," Kupchan said. "They are, therefore, looking to refurbish their relationships with the United States as a way of balancing against Chinese power."

(Additional reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney; Editing by Robert Birsel)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/15/us-china-asia-idUSTRE7AE09P20111115

China holds fire over Obama before regional summit

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING | Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:52am EST

(Reuters) - China appeared keen on Tuesday to avoid a brawl with the United States over trade and currency stances, brushing aside President Barack Obama's criticisms and stressing that the world's two biggest economies share a stake in stable ties.

Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin did not directly address Obama's comment on Sunday that Washington was fed up with China's trade and currency practices.

"The meaning of President Obama's comments is a question that you should ask the White House and the State Department spokespeople," Liu told a news briefing.

"China and the United States are also economic partners each of which is important to the other," Liu told a briefing about Premier Wen Jiabao's attendance at regional ASEAN and East Asia summits on the Indonesian island of Bali later this week.

The East Asia Summit will be the first attended by a U.S. president. Obama will meet Wen during the meetings, said Liu.

"I think that along with the development of economic globalization, and the development of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation, China and the United States have massive potential to further strengthen economic and trade cooperation."

Tension had been building in the lead-up to the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum gathering over a proposed U.S.-led free trade deal that Washington wants as a counterbalance to Chinese influence but which China sees as an attempt to force it to play by U.S. rules.

A day after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao during the APEC summit on Hawaii, Obama used some of his toughest language yet against Beijing. He urged it to take on the responsibilities of a "grown up" economy and stop "gaming the system.

China's government will not welcome such remarks, but its leaders have shown throughout this year that they want to keep relations with the United States steady, and avoid feuding that could distract them from a handover of top posts among Communist Party leaders from late 2012.

Beijing held back from broader retaliation after Obama meet exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai lama -- scorned by China as a foe of its rule in his homeland -- and after the White House announced new arms sales offers to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its own.

"Some harsh words from President Obama won't come as a complete surprise because he's facing a grim economy at home, so Americans are in a bad mood," said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international security at Renmin University in Beijing.

The U.S. election could intensify trade tensions, he added.

"But China generally sticks to a pattern of avoiding open quarrels with the President ... China wants to ensure that stability remains in place."

SERIES OF DISPUTES

The currency dispute between China and the United States has been at the heart of tension between the rivals.

Washington has long accused Beijing of keeping the yuan artificially weak to give its exporters an advantage. China counters that the currency should rise only gradually to avoid harming the economy and driving up unemployment, which would in turn hurt global growth.

Liu suggested that the two governments should keep an amicable face on relations at the impending regional summit.

"China and the United States both have a major impact on the Asia-Pacific region," Liu said. "For the two countries to carry out cooperation and mutually benefit in Asia suits not only their interests, but also helps regional peace and development."

Last year, U.S.-China relations were beset by a series of disputes, including disagreements over China's trade and currency practices, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, China's military build-up in the Pacific and its human rights record.

The East Asia Summit gathers senior officials or leaders from Southeast Asia, China, Japan, India, Australia, Russia, South Korea and New Zealand.

(Editing by Ken Wills and Jonathan Thatcher)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/14/us-obama-china-idUSTRE7AD2CN20111114

Analysis: Risks may blunt tough U.S. talk on China

By Andrew Quinn

WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 14, 2011 6:48pm EST

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's sharp words on China may burnish a tough image as the United States heads into the 2012 election but they carry risks as both Washington and Beijing face a tricky period of political transition.

Obama used the Asia-Pacific summit in Hawaii to pile pressure on China, declaring it must play by global trade rules and act like a "grown up" -- words bound to sting in Beijing, where the millennial sweep of Chinese history is a major point of cultural pride.

Obama's remarks followed a series of strong U.S. pronouncements on China, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top officials laying out points of contention ranging from Beijing's currency and intellectual property policies to its human rights record.

But political analysts said the Obama administration has few tools to bring China quickly to heel, particularly at a moment when the U.S. economy is fragile, the global economic outlook remains bleak and Beijing is America's number one foreign creditor and third largest export market.

"Obama has to deal with China, and frankly his tools for follow up are constrained," said Jonathan Pollack, a China expert at the Brookings Institution.

"He has got to talk tough and look the part, but whether he is really ready to ratchet up pressure remains to be seen."

While U.S. officials hope to use existing structures such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) to hit back against what they see as unfair trading practices such as Chinese government subsidies to state-owned enterprises, progress can be slow.

Unilateral measures such as punitive sanctions in response to China's currency policy -- which Washington has long said keeps the yuan artificially undervalued against the dollar -- could bring Chinese retaliation and spur fears of a trade war.

That has not stopped leading Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney from saying that if elected he would designate Beijing a currency manipulator and threaten trade sanctions, echoing U.S. public concern over China's economic and military growth..

"The candidates are going to try to out-tough each other on China, because that plays well," said one business analyst with China connections who did not want to be named.

"But there is no way of addressing these issues bilaterally without causing a lot of collateral damage, so they have to do a lot of soul searching about what comes next."

HOLIER THAN THE POPE

While White House officials say Obama told Chinese President Hu Jintao that American business and American people were "impatient and frustrated" with China's economic policies, China has shown no public sign of backing down.

A senior Chinese diplomat at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hawaii said Beijing would abide by rules made collectively but would not be dictated to when it comes to international trade rules.

Political analysts said China's leaders, preparing to install Vice President Xi Jinping as Hu's successor in the second half of 2012, are under their own domestic political pressure and unlikely to cave in to U.S. demands.

"Right up through the end of 2012 the Chinese leaders are going to have to look holier than the Pope or more communist than Mao when it comes to their response to pressure on China," said Douglas Paal, an expert on Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a senior Asia advisor to the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

"You will probably see less cooperation on currency revaluation and on other things we want, and I don't think that pushing them hard in public will make it any better."

Obama's itinerary this week, which takes him to Australia and then to the East Asia Summit in Bali, will give him more opportunities to make common cause with other Asia-Pacific nations unnerved by China's rising profile.

Obama is likely to stress the importance of stronger regional trade and security ties, but some analysts said his visit was aimed at making a longer-term point about U.S. policy rather than scoring individual points against China.

"We're about to enter a much more vigorous period of diplomatic competition between the United States and China," said Victor Cha, an Asia analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"China is going to spread its wings anyway, but the United States is signaling that at this moment of greater fiscal austerity the United States is not going to leave a power vacuum for China to fill."

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203503204577039892130094070.html

China Resists Sea Discussion at Summit

By JEREMY PAGE

BEIJING—China made clear it doesn't want to discuss simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea during this week's East Asia summit —the first to be attended by a U.S. president—on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Beijing is keen to resist any attempts by the U.S. to get more deeply involved in the issue—which China wants to address with its neighbors one by one, especially as Washington tries to reassert its influence in Asia.

The Philippines, meanwhile, repeated its call—already rejected by Beijing —for a meeting between the claimants, which also include Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, to discuss creating a "zone of peace" in the area by clearly defining disputed and undisputed areas.

Enlarge Image

Reuters

An aerial view in July shows the Pagasa (Hope) Island, which belongs to the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the South China Sea off the coast of the western Philippines.

The two statements highlight the regional tensions that form the backdrop for talks Friday and Saturday between leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, and eight other countries: the U.S., China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. The broader group's forum is known as the East Asia Summit.

Maritime security is expected to be a key issue in Bali as the U.S. and its regional allies and partners try to push back against what they see as China's more assertive diplomacy and military posturing in the region, especially over territorial issues, according to diplomats and regional experts.

At a Thursday meeting of the 10 Asean leaders, the South China Sea is likely to come up as four members are claimants, including Vietnam and the Philippines, which have been embroiled in a series of diplomatic spats and incidents at sea with China this year.

Disputed Isles

Competing territorial claims have led to maritime disputes off the coast of Asia.

View Interactive

But other Asean members, who have better relations with China, appear reluctant to support the Philippines' proposal, diplomats say. And Beijing doesn't want the issue raised at the broader East Asia Summit as it has long objected to non-claimants, especially the U.S., being involved in an issue it says should be resolved bilaterally between itself and each claimant.

"There is no connection between the South China Sea and the East Asia Summit as the East Asia Summit is a forum, a platform for discussing cooperation on economic development," China Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a briefing on Tuesday. "We hope the South China Sea will not be discussed at the East Asia Summit."

China was infuriated last year when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared in a speech in Vietnam that the U.S. had a national interest in protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, through which much of the world's trade passes.

The U.S. hasn't specifically said it wants the South China Sea on the formal agenda of the East Asia Summit: Diplomats say it has been anxious not to appear too assertive at the meeting as U.S. President Barack Obama is attending for the first time.

But Washington has been encouraging its allies, partners and other countries in the region to play a greater role in resisting China's more robust diplomacy and protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, diplomats and regional experts say.

Administration officials have asserted in the days leading up to the summit that the U.S. will seek to play a bigger role in countering China's claims in the South China Sea.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor at the White House, said maritime security was one of three issues the U.S. will focus on at the summit, along with nonproliferation and disaster relief. "The South China Sea will certainly come up in that context. While we don't think the [summit] is a venue to resolve territorial claims, it is an opportunity for leaders to reaffirm core principles such as freedom of navigation, unimpeded commerce, and peaceful resolution of disputes," he said.

Mrs. Clinton was expected to discuss the territorial row with Albert del Rosario, the Philippines' foreign minister, and Voltaire Gazmin, its defense secretary, during a visit to the Philippines on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

Mrs. Clinton was also due to join a ceremony Wednesday aboard the USS Fitzgerald marking the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, the AP said.

Mr. del Rosario issued a statement Tuesday urging Asean to play a more decisive role in the South China Sea and to help organize a summit to discuss the Philippines' proposal for creating a "zone of peace, freedom, friendship, and cooperation" there.

"We have been given the impression that political and economic considerations had hindered a fruitful and mutually acceptable outcome on the discussions" of the zone-of-peace proposal, said the statement, which was read out at a meeting of Asean foreign ministers in Bali. "Asean must play a decisive role at this time if it desires to realize its aspirations for global leadership."

An editorial published on the website of China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the proposal was designed to assist the Obama administration's initiative to reassert U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The timing the Philippines chose to toss out the South China Sea proposal is just to keep pace with the U.S. Pacific-Asian strategies," it said. "Now that Obama is scheduled to appear at the Asean Summit, the Philippines will embrace the 'golden chance' to get back at China, again churning up the South China Sea."

—Carol Lee in Washington contributed to this article.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5inZ2XCIM0_gnLVS3kQWEtEW0dzpQ?docId=CNG.ec13fa2d970e9e385e80aacbafe95753.ea1

S. China Sea discussion 'appropriate' for summit: US

(AFP) –

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — Responding to criticism from Beijing, the United States on Tuesday defended President Barack Obama's right to raise territorial disputes in the South China Sea at the East Asia Summit in Bali over the weekend.

"We believe the issue of maritime security is an appropriate issue to discuss at the East Asia Summit," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president.

"And in the context of discussions about maritime security, the South China Sea will clearly be a concern," he said.

Obama is to take part in the summit in Bali on Saturday, positioning Washington as a counterweight to China in an effort to reassure its allies of US commitment to the region.

But on Tuesday Beijing, alluding to the strategic role that the United States intends to continue to play, stressed that territorial disputes in the South China Sea should be handled by the nations affected.

"China believes that the disputes should be resolved through peaceful consultations between parties directly concerned," assistant foreign minister Liu Zhenmin told journalists at a briefing in Beijing.

"The intervention of outside forces is not helpful for the settlement of the issue; on the contrary it will only complicate the issue and sabotage peace and stability and development in the region," he said in apparent reference to the United States.

Speaking during Obama's flight to Australia, where the US president begins a two day official visit on Wednesday, Rhodes acknowledged that the EAS summit was not a "tribunal."

"It's not a forum to resolve specific territorial questions. But rather it is a forum to address the principles with which we approach these issues."

"South China Sea will be a part of the discussion of maritime security and we will focus on the principles that lead to the free-flow of commerce."

Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan are locked in disputes with China over conflicting claims to the Spratlys and other islands in the oil-rich South China Sea.

The dispute is expected to arise in the summit debates and at an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Bali beginning on Thursday.

Philippines President Benigno Aquino was expected to propose a meeting of all parties to the conflict, including China, "to discuss these claims and define both the undisputed and disputed areas for the purposes of establishing a joint cooperation area," a Philippine government document obtained by AFP said.

Aquino wants to make the sea a "zone of peace, freedom, friendship and cooperation," instead of a potential flashpoint for conflict, by erecting a rules-based regime to govern the area, the document said.

Asked whether Washington supports the Aquino proposal, Rhodes said, "We support the ability of all nations to raise their concerns in the context of the East-Asia Summit."

He was unable to say, however, whether Obama raised the South China Sea disputes with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday when they met face to face in Hawaii on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Wen-to-Attend-East-Asian-Summit-in-Bali--133870448.html

November 15, 2011

Wen to Attend East Asian Summit in Bali

Peter Simpson | Beijing

China is preparing to face down regional criticism, including its South China Sea territorial claim, later this week at a series of Asian summits.  During a news briefing Tuesday Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin attempted to cool anxiety about rising regional tensions.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will travel to Bali, Indonesia, Thursday for a round of annual summits where he is expected to hear demands from some of China's neighbors to discuss competing claims to the South China Sea.

But Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said Tuesday China does not want to discuss the issue.

He says he wants to make it clear to the other countries in the region that the South China Sea issue has nothing to do with the East Asia Summit, which follows a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders at the annual ASEAN meeting.

Liu says the summit is a forum for discussing economic and trade development issues.  He says China prefers to discuss territorial claims individually with the countries involved rather than collectively discuss them.

He also warned against efforts to involve outside countries, such as the United States, in the territorial dispute.

Liu says any such intervention would, in his words, only complicate the issue and sabotage regional peace, stability and development.

New reports from the Philippines indicate that Benigno Aquino is planning to publicly press for talks on the South China Sea dispute at the two-day East Asian Summit in Bali.

Other ASEAN member countries, including Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Beijing's rival Taiwan, also claim to own all or part of the Spratlys Islands close to important shipping lanes in the South China Sea.

Those shipping lanes are also a priority for Washington, which claims it has a stake in the security and what it describes as unhampered international commerce in the South China Sea.

Li Mingjiang is an assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and an specialist on East Asian regional relations and Sino-American ties.

He says Beijing will be unhappy that some of its regional neighbors are seen to be moving closer to the United States for security cooperation and security ties.

"The South China Sea issue will be brought up and will be discussed, but again a lot of these things will be diplomatic and symbolic. There will be some sort of diplomatic tug of war but it's not going to resolve onto any open confrontation.  I think Beijing understands that this is something that China has to handle carefully.  It cannot openly criticize these regional states because any criticism will only backfire," he stated.

Li also points out that those countries upset with China also have to be diplomatic, given the growing trade dependency with Beijing.

"Obviously, regional states will have to consider Chinese reactions, if they move too fast or too close to the U.S.  The number-one concern will be economic interests, because a lot of the regional states now depend on China for economic development. If you look at the trade flows, it is clearly the case," Li said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Liu was keen to point to out how increasing trade between ASEAN countries and China was helping to offset the dip in demand from the financially troubled U.S. and European markets.

China's role in the United States' economic troubles was raised earlier this week when President Barak Obama said China has not done enough to allow its currency to reach a fair-market value.

Chinese state media criticized the remarks, saying the U.S. president was blaming China for his country's economic problems.  When the foreign minister was asked about what he thought the U.S. president meant by his words, the foreign minister said only the White House could explain the remarks.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9R0IG880.htm

Philippines rejects new Chinese territorial claim

By JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines

China has claimed new territory less than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from a Philippine province, boosting tensions over potentially resource-rich areas of the South China Sea, but the Philippines has dismissed the claim, an official said Monday.

Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr. told The Associated Press that China protested a Philippine plan to explore for oil and gas in the area in July. It is the closest point in waters off the main Philippine islands that China has claimed in the increasingly tense territorial disputes.

Beijing has been asserting its territorial claims more aggressively as its economic and diplomatic muscle has grown. Its new claims are likely to bolster Philippine resolve to seek a U.N. ruling on the long-simmering disputes, which involve China, the Philippines and four other claimants.

Among the areas being contested is the Spratlys, a chain of up to 190 islands, reefs, coral outcrops and banks believed to be sitting atop large deposits of oil and natural gas, which many fear could be Asia's next flash point for conflict.

The issue is expected to be discussed Wednesday with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The two new areas being claimed by China are not part of the Spratlys, Layug said.

The Chinese Embassy delivered a protest to the Philippine government on July 4 after Manila invited foreign companies to bid for the right to explore for oil and gas in 15 areas. Chinese officials opposed the inclusion of "areas 3 and 4" northwest of Palawan province, claiming they fall under Chinese sovereign territory.

"The Chinese government urges the Philippine side to immediately withdraw the bidding offer in areas 3 and 4, refrain from any action that infringes on China's sovereignty and sovereign rights," China said in a diplomatic note to Manila, adding that the Philippine action "cannot but complicate the disputes and affect stability in the South China Sea."

China told the Philippine government that the planned oil explorations violated a nonbinding 2002 accord that called on claimants to South China Sea territories to stop occupying new areas and avoid action that could spark tension.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular briefing: "We do not want foreign commerce involved in these kinds of investment and disputes over the South China Sea."

Palawan province, about 510 miles (820 kilometers) southwest of Manila, faces the South China Sea, which is claimed entirely by China.

One of the offshore areas now being claimed by Beijing lies just 49 miles (79 kilometers) northwest of Palawan, while the other is 76 miles (123 kilometers) from the western Philippine province, Layug said.

The Philippine government told China the areas are located well within Philippine waters and are far from any disputed area, officials said.

"The areas that we're offering for bidding are all within Philippine territory," Layug said. "There is no doubt about that."

The two areas are more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from the nearest Chinese coast, Layug said.

About 50 foreign investors, including some of the world's largest oil companies, have expressed interest in exploring for oil and gas in the Philippines, half of them in the new areas being claimed by China, because of strong indications of oil there, he said.

None of the prospective foreign companies has expressed concern over the territorial disputes, Layug said.

"Of course their issue would be ensuring security and the support of the Philippine government when they are awarded the contract," he said.

In March, two Chinese vessels tried to drive away a Philippine oil exploration ship from Reed Bank, another area west of Palawan. Two Philippine air force planes were deployed, but the Chinese vessels had disappeared by the time they reached the submerged bank.

The Philippines protested the incident, which it said was one of several intrusions by China into its territorial waters in the first half of the year. Vietnam has also accused Chinese vessels of trying to sabotage oil exploration in its territorial waters this year, sparking rare anti-China protests in Vietnam.

A British company behind the exploration at Reed Bank found very strong indications of natural gas and plans to start drilling in about six months, Layug said.

President Benigno Aquino III plans to discuss a Philippine proposal at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit this week in Bali, Indonesia, to segregate disputed South China Sea areas so coastal states can freely make use of non-disputed areas. China has opposed the plan.

Aquino's government also plans to bring the territorial disputes before the United Nations for possible arbitration.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/18261/asean-consensus-eyed-on-spratlys

BALI SUMMIT

Asean consensus eyed on Spratlys

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer 2:52 am | Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

SINGAPORE—As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) opens its summit of leaders in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday, expectations are high for Asean to forge a consensus among member-countries and China on an initiative to resolve the long-running territorial dispute in West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Leaders of the 10-member Asean and those from its dialogue partners—the United States, China, Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Russia—will start arriving at the Indonesian resort island Wednesday for the 19th Asean Summit of Leaders and a host of related summits.

President Benigno Aquino III, who is cohosting the Asean-US Leaders' Summit with US President Barack Obama, is scheduled to fly to Bali on Wednesday. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is also attending the summit.

According to Philippine officials here, a Philippine initiative to resolve the Spratlys dispute—which takes off from the framework to turn the West Philippine Sea into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZOPFF/C)—will figure highly in the agenda of the summit, and subsidiary meetings like the Asean-China commemorative summit and East Asia summit.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario was to unveil the initiative at the Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting preceding the Bali summit.

The Philippines expects Asean to "assert its leadership" toward a peaceful resolution of conflicting claims over the potentially oil-rich Spratlys "by bringing in all the parties concerned," said foreign undersecretary  Erlinda Basilio.

In recent months, the Spratlys issue has become an irritant between Asean countries and China, with the Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of incursions on their territorial waters.

The Spratlys, a chain of islets and atolls on the West Philippine Sea that is believed to be sitting on top of vast oil and gas reserves, are claimed in whole or in part by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/18289/hillary-clinton-arrives-for-talks-with-aquino

Hillary Clinton arrives for talks with Aquino

Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:22 am | Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Manila on Tuesday for talks with President Beigno Aquino III amid high tension between the Philippines and China over the disputed Spratly Islands.

Hours before Clinton's arrival, riot police blocked some 100 activists attempting to protest at the US Embassy the  visit to mark the 60th anniversary of the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).

Officials accompanying Clinton, whose plane made a brief refueling stop in the US territory of Guam, said she would meet with Mr. Aquino and tour a warship before flying later in the day to Bali, Indonesia, for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

The United States recently provided the Philippines with a destroyer and Clinton will discuss offering a second one, the officials said.

They said Clinton would also look for ways to step up cooperation at sea. Recent US military efforts with its former colony have focused on fighting Moro guerrillas in Mindanao.

"We are now in the process of diversifying and changing the nature of our engagement. We will continue those efforts in the south, but we are focusing more on maritime capabilities," a senior US state department official said on condition of anonymity.

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose L. Cuisia Jr. told reporters that Clinton also would meet with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to discuss new ways of stepping up cooperation.

Cuisia, who was at the airport for Clinton's arrival, said that her trip was meant to strengthen ties between the United States and countries in the region.

Territorial quarrel

A US defense department official said that the United States was not seeking to stir up tensions in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), where China is locked in myriad disputes with countries including the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Philippines has "what they feel are legitimate claims in the South China Sea and they are being contested by other countries," the defense official said.

"We're very sensitive to making sure that this does not in any way alarm or provoke anybody else," he said.

But relations between the United States and China have been uneasy, with President Barack Obama pressing President Hu Jintao during a weekend summit on a range of issues from intellectual property rights to the level of the Chinese yuan.

Obama welcomed leaders from 20 other Pacific Rim economies to the weekend summit in his native Hawaii where he built momentum for an emerging free trade agreement that would span the Pacific—but does not include China.

Five alliances

Clinton and Obama have vowed to put a new focus on the Asia-Pacific region, saying that the United States wants to help build the emerging institutions of the fast-growing region that is vital both for the US economy and security.

In a speech last week, Clinton said that the United States was "updating" relationships with its five treaty-bound regional allies—Australia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

"These five alliances are the fulcrum for our efforts in the Asia-Pacific," Clinton said at the East-West Center in Honolulu.

"They leverage our regional presence and enhance our regional leadership at a time of evolving security challenges," she said.

While US policymakers have been upbeat about the Philippines under President Aquino, they have been concerned over Thailand after an extended period of political chaos.

Cold War relic

Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the MDT had not been beneficial for the Philippines in the absence of the modernization of its military it was supposed to offer.

"The US government wants us to be content with receiving US military junk. The MDT has not modernized our Armed Forces. If anything, the MDT and similar military agreements have made us dependent on the US. They have made us weak and unable to stand on our own."

The activist groups maintained that the Clinton visit sought to perpetuate 60 years of "deception and lopsided relations," describing the MDT as a "Cold War relic."

"Aside from the MDT, the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) should also be scrapped as it has been used not just for brief visits but for the permanent stationing of US troops in the Philippines. The Aquino government should stand for sovereignty and do away with mendicancy in its foreign relations," Reyes added.

"We're being hoodwinked into believing we have the unqualified support of the US for the Philippines' Spratlys claim and that the MDT is the key to all this. The reality is that the US will not automatically go to war with China on the basis of the MDT alone. Military action would first require US congressional approval, which would be difficult considering America's economic ties with China," Reyes explained. With reports from AFP, Tarra Quismundo and Jeannette I. Andrade

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