Hillary Clinton’s proclamation that the “United States is back in Asia” begs the question of whether the US could be said to have ever really left. Since its comprehensive defeat of Japan in the 20th century’s second great war, the US has maintained a substantial, unbroken strategic presence in Asia, fought in two other major conflicts (Korea and Vietnam) and is still engaged in a shadowy, ‘long war’ against terrorist groups in the Muslim heartland of Southeast Asia. For many Asians, the US is the principal guarantor of regional stability. Like it or not, America remains Asia’s indispensable power.
But in another sense Clinton is right. While president George W. Bush generally won high marks for the prosecution of his overall Asia policy, the perception in Southeast Asia was one of benign neglect—of a US administration overly focused on China and Japan which saw Southeast Asia primarily through the distorting lens of Bush’s self declared global war on terror. This essentially negative, defensive view of the region belied the reality of Southeast Asia’s thriving economy, underlying stability and the dynamism of its 600 million people.
