With over half of the world’s population, increasing economic and military power, and a crucial role in energy supply and consumption, Asia will play a key role in overall U.S. foreign policy and the nation’s ability to overcome terrorist threats, achieve more beneficial trade relations, promote global security, and improve the U.S. economy among other important issues.
Each candidate had two representatives at the debate: Ambassador Robert Gelbard and Frank Jannuzi represented the Obama/Biden camp, and Michael Green and Daniel Blumenthal spoke on behalf of the McCain/Palin ticket.
The issues discussed ranged from hunting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan to the North Korean nuclear threat, and both camps were often in agreement. Because their policies overlapped on broader issues, the points of contention turned more to political track records and persuasive arguments about why their respective candidates would be the best person to carry out the mostly-agreed-upon policies. Nonetheless, these key policy advisors helped illustrate some differences between the candidates’ approaches.
An important area of differing opinions was on the ongoing conflicts Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone in the debate agreed that Afghanistan needs a stronger military presence and that the U.S. needs to get more support from Pakistan and NATO members to effectively combat terrorists and the insurgency in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where they disagreed was on the details of how to achieve that.
“It’s the most dangerous area in the world,” said Amb. Gelbard about Pakistan, citing the recent tensions with the U.S. over military actions that crossed into the Pakistan, continued tensions with India, internal political upheaval, the presence of al-Qaeda in the border region, and the fact that they are a nuclear power.
Gelbard and his colleague Jannuzi went on to suggest that a portion of troops be moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, a move they say would help get more support from NATO allies and show a renewed commitment to the area.
Blumenthal and Green disagreed with taking troops out of Iraq, saying that the situation in Iraq was still to volatile for a significant redeployment.
McCain promoted the troop surge that helped improve the situation in Iraq recently, a move that Obama opposed in the Senate. Blumenthal repeatedly referred to the surge’s success as proof of McCain’s good military judgment, and suggested that a similar counter-insurgency strategy be used in Afghanistan.
Gelbard contended that while the surge was successful in decreasing violence, “it did not cause the Iraqi government to take the steps that need to be taken to become a self-sustaining government,” an aspect of the Iraq policy they say is not given enough attention by the current administration or the prospective policies of McCain.
Free trade agreements (FTAs) were also an issue where the groups agreed on a macro-scale but disagreed somewhat on a micro-scale.
McCain has been a big proponent for an FTA with South Korea, but Obama wasn’t satisfied with the agreement in its current form and has requested revisions regarding U.S. exports to South Korea. Gelbard and Jannuzi argued that in its current form, the FTA would threaten some U.S. jobs, especially automotive workers. Blumenthal and Green countered that it would generate new jobs and increase trade revenue by the billions, and that those factors would offset any challenges it presents to certain sectors.
Gelbard and Jannuzi advised a strong focus on “invigorating our alliances in the region” to counter rises in Islamic extremism and balance China’s growing influence. This reflects Obama’s overall focus of strengthening alliances and soft power abroad. They cite Obama’s popularity in foreign countries as being a strong asset to improve negotiating strength and global opinion about the U.S.
Green’s opinion is that American soft power is contingent more on the president’s trustworthiness and strength of character than on the specifics of policy choices, adding that he thought McCain would fit that bill the best.
In closing, Jannuzi stated, “Both candidates have been profoundly shaped by Asia in profoundly different ways,” referring to Obama having lived in Indonesia as a child and McCain having spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
But despite different ideologies and different experiences in Asia, Green stated “There is a lot of consistency in our approaches, and this should reassure our Asian allies.”