As part of the major economic and diplomatic meetings this month, the U.S. State Department prepared a long-awaited summary of its relations with the nations of the IndoPacific region. Today’s excerpt examines national security issues, and America’s ties with the regional economy.
ENHANCING ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
Market-based economic systems, private sector finance, and open investment environments have driven the Indo-Pacific region’s prosperity. In the developing world, the private sector supplies nine of ten jobs, and foreign direct investment exceeds development assistance by a factor of five to one. State-directed financing, by contrast, is more limited and often comes with strings attached.
The United States believes that the role of government is to enable free enterprise while protecting individual rights and empowering people. We respect the sovereignty of every nation, and our economic engagement seeks to equip states to resist coercive economic practices, unsustainable debt burdens, and other dangers. We do this by improving market access and competitiveness, facilitating business-to-business ties, and promoting free, fair, and reciprocal trade.
At the inaugural Indo-Pacific Business Forum in July 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green, and other senior U.S. officials launched new initiatives to catalyze private sector investment in Indo-Pacific infrastructure, energy markets, and the digital economy. To date, support has included $2.9 billion through the Department of State and USAID for the economic pillar of the Indo-Pacific strategy since the beginning of the Trump Administration, and hundreds of millions more through other agencies, including the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
The U.S. government is deploying new and innovative mechanisms to improve market access and level the playing field for U.S. businesses. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), created by the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act in 2018, will be at the forefront of this effort with $60 billion in development financing to attract more private sector investment into emerging markets USAID is another major contributor to business environment development, with longstanding programs to improve regulatory and economic practices. USAID is expanding programs focused on Indo-Pacific trade and competitiveness to help reduce barriers to market entry, strengthen regulatory capacity, improve private sector competitiveness, and increase trade.
We are also continuing efforts to promote free, fair, and reciprocal trade. In October 2019, the United States and Japan signed the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement. Under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, Japan will eliminate or reduce tariffs on approximately $7.2 billion in U.S. agricultural exports. Once this agreement is implemented, over 90 percent of U.S. agricultural imports into Japan will be duty free or receive preferential tariff access. The U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement includes high-standard provisions that ensure data can be transferred across borders without restrictions, guarantee consumer privacy protections, promote adherence to common principles for addressing cybersecurity challenges, and support effective use of encryption technologies. The agreement will boost the already approximately $40 billion worth of digital trade between the United States and Japan.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The United States supports the development of infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region that is physically secure, financially viable, economically sustainable, and socially responsible. This is the sort of infrastructure that we and our partners have fostered in the region for 70 years. Through foreign assistance, diplomacy, and international finance institutions such as the World Bank and ADB, we have been facilitating infrastructure projects across the Indo-Pacific for decades. We have promoted investment, innovation, market-based growth, and transparent policies that have helped spur economic growth, while also underwriting regional security.
DIGITAL ECONOMY
The internet and digital economy have spurred tremendous economic growth and improved living standards around the world. The Indo-Pacific is home to some of the most connected and technologically sophisticated economies on the planet. One major challenge over the next decade will be to maintain open and interoperable cross-border data flows while protecting the digital economy from cybersecurity threats. Online data will be massively expanded by growth in “internet of things” devices, while fifth-generation “5G” telecommunications will empower new critical infrastructure, including autonomous vehicles and smart electricity grids.
To meet the challenges of a digitally connected world, the United States promotes an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable internet. We urge all countries to take a risk-based approach to evaluating technology vendors, including those that might be subject to control by or the undue influence of foreign powers.
CHAMPIONING GOOD GOVERNANCE
Americans believe in the vision of a world of open societies and free markets. We believe in fundamental freedom of conscience, religion, speech, and assembly. Our foreign policy is predicated on the belief that the world would be safer and more prosperous if all people were free to achieve their greatest potential within pluralistic systems governed by equal treatment under the law.
To address governance challenges across the Indo-Pacific region, U.S. programs empower the region’s citizens and civil societies, combat corruption, and build resilience to foreign influence that threatens nations’ sovereignty. In November 2018, Vice President Pence launched the Indo-Pacific Function and caution of kamagra:- Due to genital disorder a patient is unable to get cost viagra sturdy and proper erection it is termed as erectile dysfunction. It is one of the fastest working medicines that order generic cialis https://www.unica-web.com/archive/2015/english/GA2015-secretary-report.html relax blood vessels and pumps up more blood into the chamber. If, for some reason, your special needs child is being diagnosed and treated tadalafil online india for behavioral disorders. The medication is effective for viagra sildenafil mastercard https://unica-web.com/ENGLISH/2014/obituary-for-stanislaw-puls.html up to 6 hours, depending on your health. Transparency Initiative, which focuses on anti-corruption, fiscal transparency, democracy assistance, youth development, media freedom, and protecting fundamental freedoms and human rights. Our efforts under the Transparency Initiative involve over 200 programs totaling more than $600 million since the beginning of the Trump Administration.
At the November 2019 East Asia Summit, the United States is announcing $68 million, including for a major new regional governance program in the Pacific Islands and free and fair elections in Burma. Other Transparency Initiative programs have helped the government of Indonesia improve responsiveness to public complaints, assisted indigenous people displaced by a Chinese-Cambodian hydropower dam, supported public outreach by the Sri Lankan parliament through establishing a new, state of-the-art media center, and strengthened civil society contributions to legislation in Nepal. The United States is developing partnerships in governance priorities with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, and others.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) practices repression at home and abroad. Beijing is intolerant of dissent, aggressively controls media and civil society, and brutally suppresses ethnic and religious minorities. Such practices, which Beijing exports to other countries through its political and economic influence, undermine the conditions that have promoted stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific for decades.
We have called on the PRC publicly to halt its brutal repression of Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. We urge that the selection of religious leaders by the Tibetan community be free of interference by the Chinese Communist Party. With respect to Hong Kong, we have cautioned Beijing that it must uphold its commitments to maintaining Hong Kong’s autonomy and civil liberties under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. We believe that freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must be vigorously protected in Hong Kong and across the Indo-Pacific region.
ENSURING PEACE AND SECURITY
The United States seeks to build a flexible, resilient network of like-minded security partners to address common challenges. We share information and build the capacity of security sector forces to respond to transnational crime, protect the maritime domain, address environmental challenges, and response collectively to emerging threats. We also ensure that the U.S. military and its allies maintain interoperable capabilities to deter adversaries.
Our enduring commitment to the Indo-Pacific is demonstrated daily by our presence in the region with approximately 375,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel assigned to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) area of responsibility.
We are continuing to strengthen this forward presence. President Trump and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed an update to the 1990 memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding U.S. use of facilities in Singapore. This agreement allows continued U.S. military access to Singapore’s air and naval bases and provides logistic support for transiting personnel, aircraft and vessels. It also extends the original MOU by 15 years.
An important focus within the Indo-Pacific strategy is expanding security sector and law enforcement capacity to counter transnational crime. This includes illicit trafficking; terrorism and violent extremism; cybercrime; illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing; and other crimes that cross national borders. In August 2019, we expanded our partnerships to counter transnational crime along the Mekong River. We also held the first of a three-part workshop series with ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to address aviation security and information sharing, building on our long history of cooperation with partners in Southeast Asia to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism.
Among the most urgent transnational threats are threats in the cyber domain. The United States is increasing support to our Indo-Pacific partners to defend their networks and counter malicious cyber activities by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK), the PRC, Russia, and other state and non-state cyber actors that seek to steal money, intellectual property, and other sensitive information. The United States coordinates with like-minded partners such as Australia, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea to build cyber capacity in the region. Our activities include helping countries develop cyber strategies, policies, and legal frameworks; enhancing incident response and network defense capabilities; improving financial sector cybersecurity to protect IndoPacific economies; countering the use of the internet for terrorists’ purposes; increasing cybersecurity awareness in both the public and private sectors; and promoting rule of law, privacy, internet freedom, and responsible governance frameworks when considering cybersecurity needs.
We are partnering with Singapore to improve cybersecurity and stability in cyberspace in ASEAN member states, including collaborative efforts within the region such as adoption and implementation of regional cyber confidence building measures. The capstone of our ASEAN engagement was the first U.S.-ASEAN Cyber Policy Dialogue in Singapore in October 2019. The United States also works with partners on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and other dangerous materials. Together, we counter DPRK proliferation activities, enforce United States and UN Security Council sanctions, build strategic trade control frameworks, educate industry on their compliance obligations, and strengthen the enforcement at key land, maritime, and air ports of entry. We build capacity and raise awareness on proliferation activities with governments, shipping companies, shipboard personnel, and facility personnel to ensure the safe and secure flow of legitimate international trade.
To protect the maritime domain, we cooperate with Indo-Pacific partners to maintain freedom of navigation and other lawful uses of the sea so that all nations can access and benefit from the maritime commons. In the South China Sea, we urge all claimants, including the PRC, to resolve disputes peacefully, without coercion, and in accordance with international law. PRC maritime claims in the South China Sea, exemplified by the preposterous “nine-dash line,” are unfounded, unlawful, and unreasonable. These claims, which are without legal, historic, or geographic merit, impose real costs on other countries. Through repeated provocative actions to assert the nine-dash line, Beijing is inhibiting ASEAN members from accessing over $2.5 trillion in recoverable energy reserves, while contributing to instability and the risk of conflict.
Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, we have provided more than $1.1 billion for Department of State and USAID security cooperation in South and Southeast Asia. This includes $356 million for programs such as the Department of State’s Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative (SAMSI) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. These programs provide training and equipment that enables South and Southeast Asian countries to better detect threats, share information, and respond collectively to natural and man-made crises. Over the same period, the Department of Defense’s Maritime Security Initiative and “Section 333” funds provided nearly $250 million for maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance information sharing, interoperability, and multinational maritime cooperation. We are providing new advisors to enhance maritime security and defense reforms in the Pacific Islands and develop cyber policy and governance frameworks in Mongolia.
Photo: A guided-missile destroyer attached to a destroyer flotilla with the navy under the PLA Southern Theater Command throws jamming bombs to make smoke screen to mask the movement during a maritime training exercise in waters of the South China Sea on August 14, 2019. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Li Hongming and Qian Chunyan)
