HONG KONG — “The United States is back” Hillary Clinton declared at the recent meeting in Phuket, Thailand, of the Asian Regional Forum, which groups the foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea.
Mrs. Clinton’s appearance certainly gave a boost to Asean ministers — whose meetings had often failed to lure her predecessor. But the reality is that Washington’s Asia policies cannot change much. Although the gradual exit from Iraq and the end of “war-on-terror” rhetoric have helped re-balance Washington’s attention, the United States has many interests pulling it in different directions — China, India, Japan, nonproliferation, trade, climate change, etc.
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