In a city often gridlocked over how to cut spending, no one seemed to notice in Washington this week when Hillary Clinton proposed a vast expansion of the US government’s interests.
One of America’s most important tasks over the next decade, she wrote in Foreign Policy, “will be to lock in a substantially increased investment, diplomatic, economic, strategic and otherwise, in the Asia-Pacific.”
On one level, the secretary of state’s article was just a primer for November’s crowded calendar in the region. Barack Obama will be in Bali for his first East Asian summit. He will also host the annual heads of state meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Hawaii, his birthplace.