• by IPS Correspondents (hong kong)
• Saturday, December 31, 1994
• Inter Press Service

HONG KONG, Dic 31 (IPS) - For most of 1994, U.S. policy toward Asia has been based on mainly on developing commercial interests in the fast-growing region.

High-profile visits by U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and top U.S. executives to Beijing, Shanghai and Jakarta all but laid to rest President Bill Clinton's old policy of linking human rights with trade.

Also completely buried was any notion of policy being linked to geostrategic considerations as was the case in the immediate post-Cold War period.

But then the Republicans won big in the U.S. November polls. And while their party is the 'party of business', political experts say the U.S. 'mercantilist period' may have an early demise as hawkish Republicans revive military and human rights issues to run alongside the push into Asia's growing economies.

Some say Clinton's stress on trade is unlikely to change. Analysts add that with a Democrat White House and Clinton wielding a presidential veto, the might of the Republican-dominated Houses will be piecemeal and moderate.

"It is unlikely to mean a complete redirection of policy." says one Asian diplomat.

But another diplomat in Beijing predicts: "At the very least, Clinton may be forced to followed a two-pronged Asia policy, continuing the commercial push while swaying to a more Republican tune which will be more staunchly anti-communist with regard to China and North Korea and more pro-Tibet and Taiwan."

Experts point out that Clinton has turned to other Asian markets rather than risk major confrontation with Japan over opening its markets and China over its human rights record.

Exhausted and frustrated by the impasse in trade talks with Japan that were bogged down even more by frequent changes of government and disarray in Tokyo, the Clinton administration has quietly been advising businessmen to concentrate on "more receptive" Asian countries such as India and Indonesia.

"While money is the main currency of diplomacy, emerging Asian economies such as India and Indonesia have found they have more leverage against the United States as they dangle the prospect of millions of consumers before U.S. businessmen," an Asian diplomat notes.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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