|
03.03.2004
Scholar: Signs of US return
to consensus politics
PETALING JAYA: The United States is showing signs of moving toward a
multilateral approach rather than a unilateral one as the world slows its
support for the country, a well-known scholar said.
Economic Strategy Institute (ESI) founder and president Clyde Prestowitz
said the US was facing up to the “hard realities of losing friends from
around the world” after the recent turn of events following the terrorist
attacks in the country on Sept 11, 2001.
“We have seen in the past year a decline in positive feelings of the
US from countries around the world.
“Public opinion polls demonstrated that there has been an alienation
of the US and other countries,” he said.
Prestowitz said the US, who earlier had practised policies revolving
around consultation and consensus, had moved to unilateralism in policies
on defence and international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and
international treaties on landmines and small weapons.
“The Iraq invasion and the Afghanistan occupation indicated that the
country was only interested in a coalition of the willing and not in
alliances,” he said.
Prestowitz was speaking at a public lecture, “Is the United States
Leaving Asia?” at Menara Star yesterday.
The one-and-a-half-hour session was jointly organised by the Institute
of Malaysian and International Studies (UKM), Asian Center for Media
Studies and Star Publications (M) Bhd.
He said there were also indications that the US was looking into
multilateral approaches with its invitation to the United Nations and
Nato to be involved in the reconstruction of Iraq and the US’ involvement
in talks on North Korea’s missile programme recently.
In a question and answer session later, Prestowitz said for the US to
repair relations in the world, particularly in Asia, it has to deal with
the Middle East conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“Other than that, the US has to come to Asia to listen to Asia’s view
on foreign policies and pay attention to the political, economic and
cultural situation in this region,” he said.
Prior to founding ESI, Prestowitz has served as a counselor to the
Secretary of Commerce in the Reagan administration. He also has served as
vice-chairman of the President’s Committee on Trade and Investment in the
Pacific.
|
