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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, August 14, 2005

Asians give U.S. mixed reviews on policies

By Richard Halloran

Indonesian Muslims attend a mass prayer in Jakarta on Aug. 18, 2003, after the arrest of Hambali, a militant believed to be al-Qaida's point man in Southeast Asia. At a recent conference at the East-West Center, Asia was called the world's most dangerous region with "potential for great power conflict."

Advertiser library photo | Aug. 18, 2003

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During a gathering of Asians and Americans in Hawai'i last week, the Asians seemed ambivalent about the role of the United States in their region. As one put it, "We want the Americans to be on tap but not on top."

Most of the Asians, who came from the vast triangle bounded by Korea, Australia, and Pakistan, wanted a strong American diplomatic and military presence, lucrative ties with the United States in trade and investment, and swift disaster relief — but without being overshadowed by U.S. power.

A point of friction arose over defining an Islamic connection with terror. Asians and Americans agreed that not all Muslims were terrorists but that almost all terrorists today were Muslims. When an American suggested, however, that moderate Muslim leaders had failed to take a stand against terror, a Muslim retorted: "Muslim leaders are not taking sides. Why should they?"

The Asian and American government officials, diplomats, military officers and scholars were here to attend the Senior Policy Seminar at the East-West Center, the research and educational institute in Manoa. To encourage candor, the seminar organizers asked that speakers not be identified, except those who spoke in public luncheon session.

The Bush administration got mixed reviews on its policies and performance in Asia. Criticism of its conduct of Asian policy, although expressed with civility, was in contrast to a more favorable verdict on America that ran through a similar conference arranged six weeks ago in Honolulu by the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.

In that meeting, Australians, Singaporeans and Japanese asserted that an alliance with the United States, whether formal or informal, was vital to their national security and should be enhanced. Malaysians and Indonesians, citizens of predominately Islamic nations, urged the United States to pay more attention to them even though many Muslims are anti-American.

At the East-West Center, Asia was described as the world's most dangerous region because tensions between North Korea and South Korea, China and Taiwan, and India and Pakistan made it the only place, as an American put it, "where there was a potential for great power conflict."

Generally, the Bush administration got good marks for its operating style in Asia. "You are not overbearing, you are not overwhelming, you are not overimposing," said a Southeast Asian. A South Asian applauded the administration for paying more attention to that region and especially for improving relations with India, South Asia's most influential nation.

On the other hand, Asian and American critics of the administration contended that it was preoccupied with Iraq, the war on terror, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was giving insufficient attention to Asia. Moreover, they said the administration was still oriented toward Europe and caught up in a Cold War mentality.

Washington was not coping with the rise of China, the most significant development in Asia, even though several Americans said it was atop the administration's foreign policy agenda. That Congress was increasingly hostile to China and the Pentagon exaggerated China's military buildup were other complaints.

Several Asians were worried about the deep ideological divide they sensed in America. They lamented confusion arising from different voices coming from different departments of government. One criticized Washington's annual human-rights report for not including a review of violations in the United States.

The discord over the Muslim connection with terror surfaced in the public session. The U.S. ambassador to Thailand, Ralph L. Boyce, said: "We need to be careful of terminology," he said. "Essentially, we are talking about criminals." He hoped that moderate tendencies of Islam would reassert themselves.

Several minutes later, Surin Pitsuwan, a Muslim from southern Thailand and Member of Parliament, asserted that most terrorists are a "group of misguided individuals who happen to be Muslims." He urged that the adjectives "Muslim" and "Islamic" be left out of references to terrorists.

Surin, a former foreign minister, said Americans were anxious about how to deal with the Muslim world and contended that "force alone, with superior technology, would not solve the problem." He said the United States could launch missiles from hundreds of miles away and hit a target precisely. With missiles, he said, however, "you don't feel the human pain."

Not mentioned was the pain of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans killed in the terrorist assaults of 9/11, nor the victims of terrorist bombings in London and Madrid, nor the uncounted numbers of innocent Iraqi women and children who have been murdered by terrorists in Baghdad as they shopped for food or walked their children to school.

Richard Halloran is a Honolulu-based journalist and former New York Times correspondent in Asia.