August 22, 2017

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently completed his voyage to Southeast Asia, after attending the August 2017 ASEAN Forum in the Philippines and thereafter visiting Malaysia and Thailand. Tillerson’s trip to Southeast Asia signified the importance of the region to the US and President Donald Trump’s commitment to outreach to the region.

Before Trump was sworn in as President, his predecessor Barack Obama had made the largest number of visits to the Southeast Asia countries of all US Presidents —13 times to be exact — including even “former adversaries Myanmar and Laos.” Obama was also the “first to travel to Malaysia in more than four decades.” Despite withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and watering down some aspects of the Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” policy after assuming the presidency, President Trump has continued to strengthen US relations with ASEAN.

In April, US Vice-President Mike Pence made his first trip to Indonesia — the most populous Southeast Asia country — to celebrate ASEAN’s 50th anniversary and to reinforce the bilateral relations between the US and Indonesia. This was the first trip by a US high official to Southeast Asia under the Trump administration. In May 2017, Tillerson hosted the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN in commemorating the 40th anniversary of US-ASEAN relations. It is expected that President Trump will attend the US-ASEAN Summit, the East Asia Summit, and the APEC Leaders Meeting in Vietnam and the Philippines this coming November.

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