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WASHINGTON– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Feb. 20-22 Asia trip underscores the region’s importance to the US, as well as signals the new administration’s desire for long-term engagement, according to experts from the Heritage Foundation. Clinton’s trip to Asia is her first foreign trip and included China, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea.

During her trip, Secretary Clinton reassured US allies in the region. US alliance with South Korea “is stronger than ever,” and North Korea is “badly miscalculating” if it thinks it could drive a wedge between these allies, Clinton said, according to a Feb. 20 CNN report. The report noted North Korea's nuclear program has been the pressing crisis in Asia.

Clinton also urged China to continue buying US economic bonds, saying it was in the two countries’ mutual interest, given the inter-linked global financial crisis.

The Heritage Foundation, a top conservative think tank here, held a pre-trip panel discussion in which all agreed the trip stressed the region’s importance to the US.

The panelists discussed wide-ranging issues such as China’s role in the current global economic crisis, regional security, trade human rights and arms sales to Taiwan Program Director Nick Zahn for the Washington Roundtable for the Asian Pacific Press (WRAPP) hosted the event on Feb. 11 in this capital.

Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, said Secretary Clinton’s trip “is a very positive development and a big opportunity for her to start building relationships in the region.” He added that while expectedly not negotiations-oriented, the trip signals the region’s importance to the US over the long-term.

Lohman also said Clinton’s trip would lay the groundwork “for the visit of President Barack Obama, probably later in the year.” Obama spent his early years in Indonesia and still speaks the language. He has a half-sister who is Indonesian American, Maya Soetero-Ng, who attended his inauguration.

Panelist Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia in the Asian Studies Center, said the trip, coming only three weeks into the Obama administration, meant US allies matter, and that there’s “a very strong desire by the Obama administration to set a new tone,” where dialogue is an important part of the relationship.

He said he would applaud reassurances about the US commitment to the complete and verifiable de-nuclearization of North Korea, as well as the administration’s strategy on the six-party talks, insuring North Korean compliance with existing commitments.

Research Fellow for Asia Economic Policy Derek Scissors noted Clinton’s rock star status and cited her gravitas as someone who won 19 million votes in the 2008 presidential primaries. But he added the trip expectedly would not include trade negotiations, noting she did not yet have her economic team in place.

The event drew nearly 40 journalists. One of the panelists was Harvey Feldman, Distinguished Fellow in China Policy, who added his keen insight to the discussion. Zahn later sadly reported Feldman’s passing days later.

‘Indispensable’ Indonesia

Lohman said President Obama would be in Singapore this year for the annual Asian Pacific Economic Conference (APEC). He said Obama would visit Indonesia later this year, and underscored Indonesia’s importance to the region in an analysis. He noted America’s five treaty allies are all democracies: Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines. “While a security ‘alliance’ with Indonesia is not feasible, a closer U.S.-Indonesia ‘strategic partnership’ clearly is,” he stressed in a Feb. 16 analysis.

He added that in his recent visit to this US capital, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged such a partnership. Lohman said, “Clinton has indicated that the United States is ready to take him up on the idea. She is right to do so.”

Lohman pointed out that Indonesia is much more than a Muslim country: “Indonesia is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations's (ASEAN) indispensable member. With Indonesia, ASEAN has a population of 575 million. Without it, the association is 40 percent smaller. With Indonesia, ASEAN's GDP is about $1.2 trillion. Without it, its GDP is only two-thirds that figure. Indonesia's 17,000 islands stretch over three time zones and more than 40 percent of ASEAN's land area. Without Indonesia, ASEAN is mostly packed together on land along China's south.”