U.S. - Pacific
Powell's Pacific Man
Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly Takes Point on the Pacific
For two years now, long-time Honolulu resident James Kelly has been on the job in Washington, D.C. as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific. He’s one rung under Secretary of State Colin Powell on the Bush Administration’s foreign policy team.
 |
|
|
While he is Washington’s point man for the Pacific Islands, his Asia portfolio has not surprisingly preoccupied his time. In the greater scheme of things, the possibility of nuclear weapons in unstable North Korea weighs far more heavily on Washington than development issues in Tuvalu or Kiribati.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
Still, the former senior Defense Department official and National Security Council Asia specialist during the Reagan Administration keeps an eye on the region. These days, Kelly’s view is often through the prism of the Bush Administration’s war on terrorism.
In an interview with Pacific Magazine, Kelly took particular offense at the Washington-based critics who made light of some Pacific Island countries being listed as part of the Administration’s “Coalition of the Willing” against Saddam Hussein. “These critics are very cynical in their attacks,” says Kelly. With young American Samoan, Guamanian, Palauan, Northern Marianas, Micronesian and Marshallese serving in the U.S. military—many in Iraq—the assistant secretary says, “The war may be closer to home in the Islands than it is in many high-income American towns.”
A number of Island governments were outraged when critics questioned what kind of real assistance governments such as Palau and the Marshall Islands could offer coalition forces doing battle in Iraq. Those critics made reference to supplying coconuts and the like.
With the war in Iraq now officially over, Kelly admits the buildup to fighting and the military campaign has caused rifts in the Pacific. “This is the first time that New Zealand has not been with us,” he noted. “Their choice has been to line up more with the European countries.”
Kelly acknowledges that there are challenges to keeping Asia-Pacific issues at the fore in Washington. Finding a place at the foreign policy table for Asia, let alone the Pacific Islands, has always been a battle in Washington, where the traditional sources of foreign policy expertise have long been focused on Europe and, to a lesser extent, the Middle East.
“It’s quite different, as you know, on the West Coast and in Hawaii where there is more awareness of the commercial ties we have with Asia,” Kelly says. But he insists that the Bush Administration is working hard on Pacific issues.
“I can tell you that the president and the secretary of state both understand the importance of Asia and the Pacific. Japan and China demand policy attention and the Pacific Commander (in Honolulu) is an influential player,” the assistant secretary says. “It’s an issue of media and culture. A lot of the interests in Asia are very narrow.”
The belief that the U.S. is preoccupied with Europe and the Middle East, to the detriment of the Asia-Pacific region, leaves the impression that Washington is willing to take a regional backseat to Japan, China and Australia. Nothing could be further from the truth, Kelly says.
“All through the 1990s,” Kelly notes, “we just couldn’t tell the Asia-Pacific countries often enough that we’re players in the region. We’re not pulling out. One of the major developments has been the increasing importance of China as an economic player in the Pacific.”
As for the Pacific Islands component of Kelly’s Asia-Pacific brief, the assistant secretary notes the continuing relevance of the region’s strategic importance. That said, modern surveillance technology (satellites and long-range aircraft) has sometimes meant less attention from Washington to individual nations.
One of the region’s more sensitive issues, the future of Fiji, remains a concern, Kelly notes. “Fiji may have the most complicated politics in the whole Asia-Pacific region,” he says.
Kelly is also keeping an eye on the continuing battle by the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) to curry diplomatic favor in the Pacific Islands. For example, in the U.S.-affiliated Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia recognizes the PRC, but the Marshall Islands and Palau have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Taipei has been aggressive in supplying aid assistance to both countries.
When asked to comment on Beijing and Taipei maneuvering for the favor (and UN votes) of Pacific Islands nations, Kelly responds, “We don’t take any position on these issues. China’s size and its development gives their leaders a more strategic view of the region. And part of this is caused by their moves to head off Taiwan’s rather modest diplomatic efforts.”
Kelly also points out that Pacific Islands countries played their part in the China game, too. Tonga and Nauru have played both China cards at different times.
Overall, though, the Bush Administration’s focus remains on the current Asian hotspots. “There’s North Korea,” he says, “especially their pull-out from the non-proliferation treaties. And I’m worried about Aceh in Indonesia and increasing tensions between India and Pakistan.”
