Southeast Asia deserves more sustained attention from American policymakers than it has received in the recent past. This Independent Task Force Report argues that Southeast Asia has a long history of important security and economic ties to the United States and is of strategic interest. Yet, the United States has benignly neglected the area and its needs and growth potential for almost two decades. With the economic crisis in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the late 1990s, the reestablishment of U.S. diplomatic ties to Vietnam, and the recent ethnic strife and devolution in Indonesia, the region and its member nations are back on the international skyline. The time is ripe to move from single-issue or single-nation crisis response, the authors argue, and to debate America's national interests across all of Southeast Asia and the consequential role of U.S. engagement in both Indonesia and the ASEAN group in the years ahead.
Author: Robert Kerrey
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 65
Publisher: BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
Publication Date: 01 Jul 2001
