By Prashanth Parameswaran
Its true significance lies in what it means for the current and future place of Southeast Asia and ASEAN in US policy.
From February 15-16, U.S. president Barack Obama will host Southeast Asian leaders as well as the ASEAN Secretary-General for a special summit at the historic Sunnylands Center in Rancho Mirage, California. While observers may be looking for headlines on big-ticket items such as the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, the true significance of the Sunnylands summit lies in what it means for the current and future place of Southeast Asia and ASEAN in U.S. policy.
First, the summit attests to the importance that the Obama administration has attached to the subregion during its two terms in office. Arguably the most significant aspect of the administration’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific has been the greater share of attention devoted to Southeast Asia as well as ASEAN as a whole within U.S. Asia policy – what some officials privately term “the rebalance within the rebalance.” Over the past few years, the United States has ratified the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, become the first non-ASEAN country to appoint a resident ambassador to ASEAN, joined the East Asia Summit and institutionalized annual U.S.-ASEAN summits. These are no small feats for a U.S. Asia bureaucracy that still continues to be largely dominated by Northeast Asian concerns.
The convening of first-ever standalone meeting with Southeast Asian leaders in the United States next week is yet another powerful symbol of this administration’s commitment to Southeast Asia. But it is also not without substance. As those involved in the planning of the summit point out, having a full day-long worth of interactions between U.S. and ASEAN leaders rather than the annual hasty interactions amid Asian summitry is a rare and valuable opportunity to delve deeper into critical issues at the highest levels.
Read the full story at The Diplomat