Speeches

Opening Remarks for ASEAN-US Symposium Opening Ceremony
by Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold

Sponsored by IPS, ISEAS, and the
Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
October 15, 2007

 

Thank you for your kind introduction and good morning, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I am honored to be here with all of you today to mark the thirtieth anniversary of U.S.-ASEAN Dialogue relations and pleased that the organizers have brought together so many distinguished people to provide ideas on ways to create a brighter future.  At the same time, I am saddened that, for all the progress that can be seen here in Singapore and throughout most of this vibrant region, this is a time of profound darkness in one country in Southeast Asia.  Like so many individuals, organizations and governments around the region and around the world, my government is deeply concerned about the Burmese regime’s brutal crackdown on its people.

We appreciate the fact that ASEAN took a clear stand on Burma in the September 27 statement by the ASEAN Chair.  We are determined to work with ASEAN and with all in the international community who share our goals of bringing about the release of Burmese political prisoners, an end to the regime’s repression, and real dialogue that leads to a peaceful transition to democracy in Burma.

On Burma, as on so many other issues, the United States places great value on our close cooperation with ASEAN.  President Bush recognized the importance of our ties to ASEAN when he announced during the APEC Leaders Meeting last month that the United States would name an Ambassador to ASEAN and invited the ASEAN leaders to meet with him in Texas next year.

U.S. engagement with ASEAN nations, individually and collectively, has never been stronger.  We have forged major non-NATO alliances with the Philippines and Thailand, a close strategic partnership with Singapore, and we have enhanced our military cooperation with others including Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.  We have broadened and deepened bilateral ties with several countries, most dramatically Vietnam and Indonesia.

Our trade and investment stakes in Southeast Asia are enormous and growing, as reflected in our 2004 Free Trade Agreement with Singapore, ongoing FTA negotiations with Malaysia, and the Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement that United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab signed with ASEAN in August last year.

With 570 million people and a combined gross domestic product that topped $1 trillion for the first time last year, the ASEAN economies collectively represent our fifth largest trading partner.  And no country trades more with ASEAN's members than the United States.  U.S.-ASEAN trade has increased by more than 40 percent since 2001, and now amounts to almost $170 billion per year.

U.S. investment in ASEAN – almost $100 billion -- exceeds that invested on a combined basis in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

In terms of total exports, imports, and FDI, ASEAN is a more important market for the United States than all of South America.

The United States is excited about ASEAN's plans to adopt an ASEAN Charter, which will be signed here in Singapore at the ASEAN Summit in November.  The Charter will serve as the legal and institutional framework for the organization as it moves towards greater cohesiveness.

The United States government and our private sector also strongly support ASEAN's blueprint for economic integration, which will become the ASEAN Economic Community. We believe that the ASEAN Community, which will include a Political-Security, Socio-Cultural as well as the Economic Community will be good for everybody -- providing an easier place to do business and another anchor for regional stability in Asia.

We have launched with our ASEAN partners several important initiatives to help ASEAN achieve its objectives.

Since 2005, the Enhanced Partnership between the United States and ASEAN has generated many successful initiatives, focusing on eight (8) priority areas of cooperation.  On the economic front, we have developed an extensive program in support of efforts toward ASEAN economic integration through the U.S.-supported Technical Assistance and Training Facility in the ASEAN Secretariat.  This Facility has been particularly effective in implementing our cooperative activities, managing 106 projects over the last two and a half years.

To tackle the health issues facing the region, the United States supported an expert on pandemic preparedness and avian influenza at the ASEAN Secretariat, and we jointly fund with Singapore the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention Center (commonly known as the REDI Center.)

The United States is working with ASEAN to assess and build capacity in the areas of information and communications technology, transport, and disaster management.  We are also working together on energy and environmental protection programs.

A new Fulbright initiative, the ASEAN Visiting Scholars Program, supports the efforts of foreign affairs officials, scholars, and researchers working on ASEAN-U.S. issues.

Before closing, I would like to say a few more words about Burma, which some, perhaps many, in the room may know as “Myanmar.”  Since Burma joined ASEAN ten years ago, we’ve had our differences over the tactics necessary to encourage change in that country.  But I believe we are witnessing a greater convergence of views, if not always over tactics, then at least a growing consensus that the status quo in Burma cannot continue.

Recent events in Burma triggered in Southeast Asia, as elsewhere, widespread revulsion toward the regime and strong sympathy for the suffering of the Burmese people.  ASEAN reacted swiftly, taking an unprecedented stand through its Foreign Ministers in New York against the regime’s violent crackdown and in favor of political reconciliation.  We believe ASEAN has an important role to play.  We welcome its more prominent leadership on the issue, and we hope it will continue to use its leverage to promote a genuine transition that takes account of the needs and aspirations of Burma’s people.

Here in Singapore, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the media has focused sustained attention on the Burmese regime’s decades of oppression and misrule.  This recent shock has provoked, and in some ways reinvigorated, ASEAN’s ongoing discussions over its integration, identity and future.  Some of the region’s leading figures have even weighed in to reexamine such hallowed principles as constructive engagement and non-interference in member’s affairs.

All of this, I think, has the potential to strengthen ASEAN over time.  I also think it serves as a striking reminder of just how far most of Southeast Asia has come.  Even as Burma has struggled, most of the region’s peoples have enjoyed rising expectations of responsible leadership, accountable governance, respect for human rights, and economic well-being.   We see enormous hope in Southeast Asia’s dynamic people, maturing institutions, intellectual vigor, and receptivity to new ideas.

As acute as the United States’ concern is about the situation in Burma, and as much as we look forward to ASEAN’s help in resolving it, the United States understands that our stake in ASEAN encompasses even more than Burma.  We are very bullish on ASEAN and confident in its bright future.  It is a future that we very much intend to participate in and to help bring to fruition.

Thank you for your attention.  I wish you all a productive and rewarding conference.