REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – As the first non-ASEAN country which has ambassador for ASEAN, US has engaged with ASEAN for 35 years this year. The US Ambassador for ASEAN, David Carden, said that the reason behind such long engagement was US' interest to see ASEAN to succeed. “We want ASEAN has no war, prosperity that has to be shared, and children have better world in the future,” Carden said during a discussion on Monday.

Carden also reminded the ASEAN members to cooperate in solving problems. Problems occur in one of ASEAN members are joint problems thus, the solution needs to be found together. “There is no boundary between us,” he said.

The former ASEAN Secretary-General, Rodolfo Severino, admitted that US had been doing something special and extra relating to ASEAN. Yet, he said, there was some important questions behind such engagement. “The question in our mind is that is their presence sustainable and how long can the US continue to maintain this kind of change?” he asked.

Relationships between US and ASEAN have positif impacts, especially for the regional organization. “For ASEAN, this is the recognition by the US,” the Chairman Institute for Democracy and Human Rights in the Habibie Center, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, said. Then she also raised a question addressed to the US side. “The question is will US be contend on East Asia Summit?” she said. 

The discussion is also featured the Indonesian launch the book of ASEAN-US Relations: What are the talking points? The quintessential of the book is about US-ASEAN relations issue. “The book has two parts,” Severino said. 

The first part is the view of US ASEAN relations. The second part is the contemporary issues, such as US policy towards Myanmar. Pavin Chachavalpongpun as the editor of the book said the book was launched in Singapore on January. The book also has a recommendation of how to improve the relationships between US and ASEAN. 

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