By East-West Center
HONOLULU (October 4, 2019)—President Donald Trump first laid out a vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” at the November 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam. From the start, statements describing the emerging US Indo-Pacific strategy have recognized the central role of Southeast Asia.
The US approach to the Indo-Pacific focuses on three vital areas: enhancing shared prosperity, championing good governance and civil society, and ensuring a peaceful and secure regional order. Two recent visitors to the East-West Center described the potential role of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the US Indo-Pacific strategy and spelled out several steps that the United States needs to take to strengthen US-ASEAN...
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