Publication

This report explains that Southeast Asia deserves more sustained attention from US policymakers than it has received in the past. The authors argue that Southeast Asia has a long history of important economic and security ties to the United States and is of strategic interest. The report states that the US has neglected the area, its needs and growth potential for almost two decades. The authors point out that with the economic crisis in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the late 1990s, the re-establishment of US diplomatic ties to Vietnam, and the recent ethnic strife and devolution in Indonesia, the region and its member nations are back on the global map.