HONOLULU -- The United States continues to make the war against terrorism its top priority. To keep the world focused on the battle, it is focusing on Southeast Asia, opening what some call "a second front" in the region. This agenda makes sense in Washington, but its single-minded focus could undermine long-term U.S. interests in the region. Counterterrorism policy must be part of a broader strategy of engagement with Southeast Asia; it appears as though the war against terrorism is becoming a substitute for that broader approach.
U.S. President George W. Bush has promised to eliminate "every terrorist group with global reach." After crushing the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. turned its attention to Southeast Asia, a region that the State Department has identified as the site of "potential al-Qaeda hubs." U.S. military advisers have been dispatched to the Philippines to help that country combat the Abu Sayyaf group. Concerns were heightened earlier this year when the Singapore government revealed that it had detained 13 members of Jemaah Islamiah, a clandestine network with cells in Indonesia and Malaysia, but it warned that other members had escaped capture.
Southeast Asian governments, like governments elsewhere, have expressed support for the war against terrorism. But spend some time in the region and it quickly becomes apparent that this support is broad, not deep. Last week in Kuala Lumpur, the divisions were glaring at the Asia Pacific Roundtable, or APR, the annual "track-two" meeting of security professionals.