US Must Shift Policy on Pakistan for Peace in South Asia

Great significance is being attached, at the international level, to the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama in Washington. The two countries have resolved to fortify bilateral relations. Obama said that the United States would try its utmost to end tension between the countries so that they should work in tandem with each other to meet the challenge of nuclear weapons facing the world.

Obama called for a world summit in Washington with the aim to prevent terrorists from threatening the world in any way through their access to nuclear weapons. Earlier, he termed nuclear terror as the biggest single threat to the world community. Addressing from the White House, he warned that absolutely horrifying consequences would emerge if any such nuclear weapons explodes in any country of the world.

Positive Outcome Expected
The Indian prime minister and the Indian delegation are optimistic about some positive outcome. He urged Obama to ensure that appropriate action is taken by Pakistan against the conspirators of the Mumbai terrorist attack. Obama then asked Pakistan to rein in the terrorist organization, the Lashkar-e-Taiyiba. A few hours after his meeting with Singh, the US president held a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and asked Pakistan in no uncertain terms to take stern action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack.

Now, what Pakistan actually does cannot be said. For the time being Pakistan has assured the United States that it will take action against the accused. Hence, positive outcome is likely to emerge as a consequence of the Nuclear Security Summit, provided Pakistan does not bow before the Taliban pressure.

Regarding nuclear security, Obama expressed the hope that the Indian Parliament would adopt the controversial nuclear bill shortly. Earlier the bill could not be tabled in Parliament. It can, therefore, be commented that India will go ahead with its endeavors at the international level so that nuclear weapons do not find their way to terrorists' hands in any way.

Elimination of Terrorism
It is pertinent to recall that during the Second World War, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving millions of people dead instantly and millions of others were afflicted with fatal diseases. Now, the future of South Asia would depend on how the menace of terrorism is eliminated completely.

Singh took strong exception to the supply of military equipment and war weapons to Pakistan. In response to his protest, Obama said that the United States was fully aware of Indian apprehensions, and Indian concerns will be kept in view appropriately. Obama has favored the need to lessen the tension between India and Pakistan and the United States also will strive to play it out in this connection. He endorsed the Indian demand for extradition of Lashkar-e-Taiyiba operative David Headley to India for interrogation.

The Indian prime minister said in no uncertain terms that infiltration from Pakistani side was being stepped up constantly, which was a challenge to India. The actual truth is that the United States needs to bring about a shift in its policy on Pakistan, failing which it would be difficult to maintain peace in this region.

US Puts High Hope on President Obama's Visit to Indonesia

US President Obama will soon begin his official visit to Indonesia. Before Obama's arrival, people in Indonesia have already staged protests in several cities. They burnt the US flags and used shoes to throw at President Obama's portrait posters. It seems that the shoe throwing act as means to denounce US reputation overseas has been set by former US President George W. Bush when it happened to him.

Elsewhere a bronze status of Obama depicting him as a school boy was also removed from a public park near Jakarta where President Obama used to live when he was a boy. Prior to this, this bronze sculpture of President Obama as a 10-year-old boy has triggered controversy when the sculpture was in a public park. This sculpture of a smiling Obama as a boy was dressed in shorts and T-shirt with a butterfly landed on his left thumb. At the base of the statue has inscription of these words, "Once there was a boy called Barry (Obama's childhood name) played here. Now he has grown up and become the 44th President of the United States. He is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner."

This lovely bronze status of boy Obama has good intention. The artist who made the sculpture hoped that the bronze portrait of Obama as a school boy could encourage young people to pursue their dream. However some Indonesians felt that since Obama was not an Indonesian hero and since he did not make any significant contribution to Indonesia, his statue should not be placed in public place. As such, this bronze statue was eventually removed from the public park and put in the compound of the primary school where President Obama used to attend.

Expanding Strategic Partnership
Despite local resistance, it is clear that President Obama is firmed to visit Indonesia. The visit of President Obama to Indonesia has reflected the importance of Indonesia to the White House.
Of course, President Obama's coming visit to Indonesia is not an emotional visit for him to revisit his childhood land. The main reason for President Obama's visit to Indonesia is because the United States wants to develop and expand the strategic partnership ties with Indonesia.

It is learned that the United States is prepared to resume the US training for the Indonesian Special Forces. The United States also plans to strengthen military exchange and cooperation with Indonesia and also to strengthen US cooperation with Indonesian on counterterrorism effort.

Establishing Positive Image
Another reason why Washington is keen to improve its ties with Indonesia is also because the United States is making an attempt to extend US influence in Southeast Asia in order to check and balance China's influence in this part of the world. Although Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, there is a long relational gap of Indonesia's bilateral ties with China.

Moreover, Indonesia is also the world's most populous Muslim country. To a certain extent, Washington knows that by strengthening the US relationship with Indonesia, the United States can improve the relationship with the Muslim world. This improved and strengthened US-Indonesian ties can allow the United States to establish a positive image in other Muslin countries. This in turn will help the United States to handle the Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian issues easier.

However, we still have to observe and see to see if President Obama's visit to Indonesia can achieve the substantial goals the United States hopes to achieve eventually.

China-US Relations Back to Old Inharmonious Mode

Barack Obama administration's decision to sell approximately $6.4 billion weapons to Taiwan has incited new tension in the relations between China and the United States. Earlier, Washington had announced several times to impose punitive tariffs on some China-made products; the US ambassador to China openly proclaimed that Obama would definitely meet with Dalai Lama; White House and the Department of State keenly showed their support to Google on its possible move to withdrawal from China market. All these recent issues have gradually changed the atmosphere surrounding China-US relations. The US announcement to sell weapons to Taiwan was in tune with the trend.

Antimissile System
The weapon deals between the United States and Taiwan this time involve three types of weapons, including Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot III antimissile system, and mine dredgers, all are considered weapons of defense. Taiwan has been hoping to acquire F-16C/D Fighting Falcons, but in vain.
The United States did not tell the reason why it rejected to sell the jets to Taiwan, but it was believed because of the concern of China's possible reaction. As what happened in the past, the United States gives a number of reasons to justify the weapons deals, yet they are apparently unacceptable for Beijing. It is unacceptable not because of the factors of how many weapons are sold or how advanced those weapons are, but because Beijing perceives it as being disparaged by the United States.

China's Reactions
Ever since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the United States, arms deals between the United States and Taiwan have always been a major disagreement between the two countries. There was a huge power gap between the two countries in the past, thus China's reactions had been "loud thunder, small raindrops" -- vocal complaint but little action, so that it would not cause any damage on its ties with the United States to avoid bigger losses. As far as Washington in concerned, previous US Presidents only made their moves in arms deals when their tenures approached the end, presumably to reduce the impact on China-US relationship. In any case, generally the United States had always been in the dominant position, while China could only react to the actions taken by the former.
The arms deals this time have an obvious difference after taking over the office one year ago, Barack Obama swiftly decided to put the arms deals in practice. This is unusual. Obama has rarely criticized China openly during his election campaign and his first year as the US President. He has been modest and gentle, rational and steady, which had saved the two countries from plunging into tension like what happened every time a new president resumed office in the past. However, the Obama administration attitude toward China has changed drastically since early 2010. Open criticism took over the place of diplomatic negotiation; modesty gave way to intransigence. Obama administration even chose to risk the diplomatic relationship with China by allowing the arms deals become an issue at such an early stage. What has caused the changes?

Decline of Obama's Approval Ratings
If we look at the matter in the context of recent period, internal politics is a major factor. The United States has, yet to recover fully from the economic crisis, where unemployment rate remains high at 10 percent, resulting in up surging public discontent and drastic decline of Obama's approval ratings. Moreover, the Democratic Party suffered a backlash in the Senate special election in Massachusetts. Stunned by the poll results, the White House started to feel the sense of crisis pertaining to the midterm elections. To bring itself up from the unfavorable situation, the Obama administration has to adopt a tough and dominant approach both externally and internally. In relation to China-US ties, it has shown its dominant gesture through trade protection, internet freedom, issue of Dalai Lama and the arms deals with Taiwan.
Nevertheless, it is a big question mark whether being firm and harsh on China will bring any political benefit to the Obama administration. The Chinese Government also faces all sorts of discontent among people and similarly, it also needs popular supports. In the face of the US actions that will undermine its "core interests," the Chinese Government has to take stern measures to react, to avoid losing popular supports. Therefore, in addition to the announcement of suspending military interaction with the United States, the Chinese Government has also imposed sanctions on the US companies involving in the arms deals. Unexpected for some Americans, China has never made such strong reactions in the past.

Expected Change
Like Obama administration, the most important political concern for leaders of China will get the support and approval of the country's people. Since Washington did not bother if its actions would make its bilateral ties with China go sour, China was not obliged to suppress its grievances for Obama's sake. The people's supports are worth everything, even if they have to sacrifice China-US ties, including high-level contacts.
The US midterm elections will be held in November and White House has started to prepare for the elections. Therefore, after the announcement of the arms deals with Taiwan, the United States is expected to change actions in relation to China-US ties. It is difficult to maintain any optimistic expectation on China-US relationship this year. The two countries have gone back to the old inharmonious mode where "all deals entail conflicts."