PHUKET, Thailand: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at a key security conference July 22 carrying a no-nonsense message that the United States is ready to re-engage with Asia after years of neglect.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo during the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation between the US and the Asian bloc in Phuket July 22, 2009.
Clinton, arriving from Bangkok, moved right into talks with Asian counterparts gathered for two days of international meetings to discuss the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Myanmar and a range of other regional issues.
The US secretary of state signed the seminal Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, a commitment to peacefully resolve regional disputes that already has been signed by more than a dozen countries outside the 10-nation bloc including China.
"The United States is back," she declared upon arrival in the Thai capital on July 21.
And in an appearance yesterday morning on a Thai TV talk show in Bangkok she said, "President Obama and I are giving great importance to this region," suggesting that the administration of former president George W. Bush neglected US interests in Asia.
The Bush administration had declined to sign the document, whereas Obama sees it as a symbolic underscoring of the US commitment to Asia.
Evidence of the new US approach, she said, is the fact that her first overseas trip, in February, was to Asia.
"I believe strongly the United States has to be involved in this region," she added. Her main aim in visiting Southeast Asia this time, she said, is to "work hard to try to bring a sense of future possibilities" for partnerships to ensure peace and prosperity.
Clinton was asked whether she thinks the US image abroad has been improving under President Barack Obama. "It certainly feels like it," she said. "There is a great sigh of relief in some places" she has visited this year.