Asians have stake in U.S. presidential election
Asians have stake in U.S. presidential election
By TOM PLATE
SINGAPORE: Many Asians might wish they could vote in the
United States come November, for the election of the next
president can affect Asians more directly than who becomes the
next head of the United Nations, let's say, or of the ASEAN, or
even a top official in their own country.
As long as the United States remains the sole superpower, no
American presidential election is just a domestic event.
Many Asians yearn for an American president who sees the
region as vital, and who comes to that realization not in his
second term, as President Bill Clinton did, but right from the
start.
It is commonly said in Asia that the United States sleepwalked
through the early stages of the Asian financial crisis, thus
worsening the trauma.
Certainly, it is not just the Thais who take that view, but
even the Japanese, with their own unsteady economic performance
under fire from Washington and elsewhere.
Yes, they have lately warmed to Clinton for his charm, his
quick brain and, late in his second term, his thoughtful touches,
such as his unexpected appearance at the state funeral for Prime
Minister Keizo Obuchi.
But they have often grumbled about Clinton's risky
improvisational approach to Asia.
They have complained about having had almost no one to talk to
in this administration, finding almost no one close to the
president who had a solid handle on, or even a kind word for
Japan, a valued ally that's far more strategically central to the
United States than China.
They also attribute the periodic bashing of Japan, for its
perennial yawning trade surplus with the United States, to the
behind-the-American-scenes influence of organized labour.
Perhaps because of that alone -- the Japanese belief that
Vice-President Al Gore would be the labour movement's political
prisoner -- many Japanese, especially those in official and high-
end circles, are quietly rooting for Texas Governor George W.
Bush to win in the fall.
In many respects, the Chinese see eye to eye with their
Japanese rivals.
The Chinese appreciate Clinton's state visit in 1998, but they
also worry that Gore, who has given their half of the world scant
attention over the years, is a prisoner not just of the labour
movement, but also of Western human-rights activists.
Understandably, they are far more comfortable dealing with
American businesses which, in their view, make decisions about
China out of rational economic interests rather than emotional or
idealistic ones.
Yes, the Chinese practice a very diluted brand of Marxism at
home these days.
Yet, in looking at events abroad, they often analyze things
through familiar Marxist lenses.
Simplifying tremendously, they tend to regard the GOP as the
instrument of big American businesses, which, they believe, have
the muscles and the chequebooks to keep any Republican president
from getting overly anti-Chinese.
On the Korean Peninsula, they have mixed feelings about
Clinton and the Democrats. Certainly, South Korea and its bold
president, Kim Dae-jung, benefited enormously from U.S. backing
of the policy of peninsular engagement, which, given the recent
summit in North Korea, looks now to be on the right track.
Still, Koreans are generally uneasy about Democratic foreign
policy, often finding it unpredictable, and tend to believe that
the Republicans offer steadier American fare.
This may be grossly unfair to the Democrats, but politics in
Asia, as is the case everywhere, is frequently a matter of
perception.
And in Asia, with its emphasis on family and tradition,
foreign figures are often graded more in terms of their heritage
than their current policy positions. Gore is seen as being in
Clinton's shadow, and Bush, as being in his father's.
Since many view the elder Bush as heir to the foreign-policy
tradition of Richard Nixon, who is as revered in many Asian
circles as he is still reviled in many American ones, and of Dr
Henry Kissinger, whom the Chinese, in particular, regard as a
great figure, Bush gets the edge.
To be sure, there are important doubts about Bush.
By Asian standards, though 54, he seems worrisomely green for
such a towering job. His selection of former Defense Secretary
Dick Cheney as his running mate has gone over big in Asia, but
not his early positions on issues of enormous sensitivity to the
region.
These include his boyish enthusiasm for a new U.S. missile-
defense system, which Asians believe would trigger a regional
arms race, and his in-your-mainland-face U.S. defense of Taiwan,
a posture they fear could provoke China into the very conflict
everyone wants to avoid.
But Gore, alas, has carved out similar positions.
Asians have their fingers crossed that both candidates are
merely posturing for votes, and that each or the other will come
to his senses when actually in office.
The fact that Asians can't vote for the next U.S. president
won't prevent them from caring about the outcome.
They can only envy Americans, who get to choose a leader not
only for themselves, but for the world too.
The writer is a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times.
-- The Straits Times/Asia News Network