Beginning a New Era of Diplomacy in Asia
Press Conference
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State, Secretary of State
Remarks With ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan
Jakarta, Indonesia
February 18, 2009
DR. SURIN:
Madame Secretary, ladies and gentlemen, members of the press, we
welcome the Secretary of State of the United States here with 30 yellow
roses – 32 yellow roses. Thirty-two symbolizes the 32 years of
(inaudible) partnership between the United States and ASEAN. Yellow, in
our dictionary, means a new beginning. It means prosperity. It means
happiness. So we do hope, Madame Secretary, that your visit today, being
the highest ranking U.S. official visiting us, the first Secretary of
State of the United States to visit us here at the headquarters of
ASEAN, 576 million people, represents a new beginning and a new
engagement on the part of the United States to ASEAN and with ASEAN.
Your
visit shows the seriousness of the United States to end its diplomatic
absenteeism in the region. You have said the U.S. is ready to listen. We
are also ready to listen, Madame Secretary. Your willingness to listen
will go a long way to winning friends and partners, and reassuring
allies in the region.
Your visit also emphasizes the importance
of ASEAN in the regional architecture. ASEAN, with its 41 years of
history, has been an anchor of stability, peace, and harmony for the
region. As a region, ASEAN and East Asia is ready, able, and willing to
work with the United States in the search for solutions to global
impasses, including bridging the cultural divide.
Ladies and
gentlemen, this evening, Secretary Clinton and I had a very, very
constructive conversation about a more robust engagement of the United
States with the ASEAN region. We touched on several issues: global
economic security was one of them; we agreed that we will join hands to
coordinate and consolidate and create synergy to cope with the impact of
the global financial crisis and to find the best means to cushion our
communities from economic distress.
In this connection, I welcome
Secretary Clinton’s strong commitment not to erect trade and other
barriers. In your own words, Madame, we must remain committed to a
system of open and fair trade. That was at the Asia Society on the 13th of this month in New York. I hope with this commitment, the Doha Round will have a new push.
I
warmly welcome the Obama Administration’s commitment to launch its
interagency process to pursue accession to the Treaty of Amity and
Cooperation. It is a reaffirmation of the United States political and
security commitment to this region.
The U.S. has been a Dialogue
Partner of ASEAN for more than three decades. The commemorative summit
between ASEAN and the U.S. to accelerate that occasion – to celebrate
that occasion is still waiting to be realized. We hope this important
milestone will be fulfilled soon.
We appreciate in the past 32
years, many, many initiatives on your part, Madame. The American people,
the American Government have assisted, cooperated with ASEAN on many,
many issues, including assisting us in our community-building efforts,
preparing us for a higher engagement with the international community on
trade and on many other issues.
We appreciate your help, your
government’s, coming to our help very quick – very fast, very timely in
our response to the Cyclone Nargis in early May this past year.
Madame
Secretary, your presence here represents the beginning of a new era of
diplomacy and development using smart power that you have articulated
recently. ASEAN is very much honored to be a part of that new beginning.
Thank you, once again, and I look forward to meeting you at the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference and the 16th ASEAN Regional Forum in Thailand in the middle of the year. Thank you very much, Madame Secretary. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Thank you very much, Secretary General, for hosting our meeting here at
the ASEAN Secretariat. I am very proud to be here at the Secretariat on
my first overseas trip as Secretary of State of the United States. I
came here to underscore the close ties the Obama Administration seeks
between ASEAN and the United States, and to discuss issues of common
concern to the ASEAN community and our country.
I congratulate
the Secretary General on the adoption of the ASEAN charter, which came
into force just last December. This is a major milestone in ASEAN’s
development.
As the Secretary General stated, I have spoken a
lot, as has President Obama, about the importance of listening. We are
sending that message to friends and partners around the world. And we
have listened to our friends in ASEAN. They have expressed their concern
that the United States has not been fully engaged in the region at a
time when we should be expanding our partnerships to address the wide
range of challenges confronting us, from regional and global security,
to the economic crisis, to climate change and human rights.
Part
of being a good listener and a good partner is acting on what you hear.
So today, I am proud to announce that the Obama Administration will
launch our formal interagency process to pursue accession to the Treaty
of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. This is the first time the
United States has taken this step. We will work through this process to
put forward our concerns, and then work with the countries of ASEAN to
resolve them so that we can achieve our goal of accession.
We are
taking this step because we believe that the United States must have
strong relationships and a strong and productive presence here in
Southeast Asia. This region is vital to the future of not only the
United States and each of the countries, but to the world’s common
interests: a significant and trade-oriented regional economy; a critical
strategic location; and a set of countries that will be key to any
solutions we pursue on climate change, counterterrorism, global health,
and so much else. So, Mr. Secretary General, an American-ASEAN
partnership is an important part of our new approach to development and
diplomacy, what we call “smart power.”
As we move forward on the
track, I look forward to engaging with ASEAN in other ways. I told
Secretary General Surin that I plan to participate in the ASEAN
Post-Ministerial and ASEAN Regional Forum meetings in Bangkok in July.
And the United States will continue to support the technical assistance
and training facility here at the Secretariat.
So, Mr. Secretary
General, please know that you have a strong partner and ally in the
United States, and that I look forward to working with you in the months
and years to come. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
DR. SURIN: Thank you, Madame Secretary. Secretary Clinton has kindly agreed to entertain one or two questions. Please.
Yes, you first.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I think that what we are trying to convey in these first weeks of
the Obama Administration is that we are reaching out to the entire
world. As we all know, there are certain parts of the world that will
demand more attention. That is why, almost immediately, the President
and I named a Special Envoy to the Middle East and a Special
Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is why we named a Special
Envoy for Climate Change, a global problem.
So here we are in
Indonesia, which has demonstrated for the entire world to see that
Islam, democracy, and modernity can exist very successfully. And that is
a message that Indonesia is sending to the rest of the world. Here in
the ASEAN region, we have Muslim nations, Catholic nations, Buddhist
nations. And what we want to convey is an approach that really does look
for partnerships, bilateral where appropriate, multilateral as well.
And ASEAN is a key to what we envision as a renewed and vigorous
commitment to diplomacy and development.
So there is no
pigeon-holing or there is no exclusivity. We are reaching out to the
entire world. Because as the Secretary General said, it’s not only the
ASEAN countries that feel the United States has been absent. Other parts
of the world, unfortunately, do as well. Even in our own hemisphere, as
you know, we have many friends in Latin America who feel that we
haven’t paid much attention. So there is no specific singling out of any
country or any region or any group of people. This is a general effort
to reengage with the world and to do so in an effective manner. ASEAN
provides such a forum.
DR. SURIN: I have tried to convince
Madame Secretary that this is a picture of harmony and diversity in the
region, and the road to reconciliation with the Muslim world might very
well run through ASEAN and Southeast Asia.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
DR. SURIN: Yes.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
What would I say to American investors who would like to invest in
Indonesia? That judging by my ride from the foreign ministry to the
ASEAN Secretariat, there is an enormous opportunity for the kind of
growth and positive investment climate that was evidenced just along
that one road. And I hope that we’ll see investments from around the
world in Indonesia and ASEAN countries. Because as we have said over and
over again, democratic development and economic development do go hand-
in- hand. What we want is to convey that there are benefits to
democracy that will have tangible, positive results in the lives of
people.
You know, later this evening, I’ll be meeting with a
broad cross-section of leaders of civic society and non-governmental
organizations here in Indonesia to talk about what more can be done to
even further the prosperity and the peace and security of Indonesia. So I
would certainly hope that investors will look at all of the ASEAN
countries. Because putting people to work, giving people a chance to
have a better life for themselves and their children, has to be a
primary goal of any development of any country. And it is certainly one
of my highest priorities in looking at our development assistance in the
United States.
DR. SURIN: Madame Secretary, you have been so generous with your time, and you have another engagement. Thank you very, very much.
