- To boost economic engagement in Southeast Asian countries, the Biden administration will invest $150 million in the region as part of its strategy to counter China, Financial Times Reports.
- The new package comes seven months after Biden promised Asean leaders that he would provide up to $102 million in investments for countries in Southeast Asia.
- “This reflects a recognition on the part of the administration that we need to step up our game in Southeast Asia,” said one U.S. official.
- The new initiatives include $60 million for maritime cooperation, and the U.S. will also deploy a coast guard ship to the region to enhance security cooperation.
- The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies will create an institute to give three officials from each of the 10 ASEAN nations training in Washington every year.
- Lisa Curtis, an Indo-Pacific expert at the Center for a New American Security, said the administration was trying to reassure Southeast Asian countries that it was committed to the region, particularly given concerns from some countries that Washington was focusing too much on the Quad at the expense of other relationships in Asia.
- The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), colloquially the Quad, is a security group that also includes India, Japan, and Australia.
- photo via Wikimedia Commons
