ID :
265829
Mon, 12/03/2012 - 15:25
Auther :

ASEAN suggested to balance relations with US and China

BANGKOK, December 3 (TNA) - Experts have warned that the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should carefully balance its relations with the United States and China. Speaking at a seminar in Bangkok on Monday, themed “US Foreign Policy towards Asia, ASEAN and Thailand”, a key panelist, Professor Dr. Prapat Thepchatree from the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University, said that the US government of President Barack Obama represents Washingnton's continued commitment to Asia and ASEAN and the Obama administration is likely to continue a containment policy against China, while renewing engagement with Asia and the Pacific. Professor Dr. Prapat acknowledged that Washington’s longstanding ties with many ASEAN member countries could turn the Southeast Asian region to become a key jigsaw for the US strategic containment policy, which is believed to then diminish China's economic and political growth. Thus, the political science academic cautioned, all ASEAN governments should balance their relations with both major powers, pointing out that a recent tour to some ASEAN member countries, including Thailand, by re-elected President Obama is believed to firm up the ties between the United States and Asia, while the Chinese growing economy has been boosting China's focal and influential roles in the global arena. Another Bangkok-based panelist, Somchai Pakapakwiwat, who is a Thai political and economic expert, meanwhile, noted although it looks like ASEAN may be pressured by the US and China to take side, the 10-member bloc can continue demonstrating its neutral foreign policy towards the world's two major powers to benefit both its politics and economy, assessing that it should be no need for ASEAN member countries to take side, either Washington or Beijing, unless there was any critial tension. (TNA)

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