[Video] Obama: Asian Dynamism versus Asian Disputes

By The Maritime Executive 11-16-2014 02:33:00

U.S President Barack Obama celebrated mutual goals and warned of conflict in Asia over lonely outcrops in the South China Sea when he spoke at Brisbane’s University of Queensland in Australia on Saturday prior to the G20 meeting:

Australia really is everything that you would want in a friend and in an ally. We’re cut from the same cloth – immigrants from an old world who built a new nation.

We’re inspired by the same ideals of equality and opportunity – the belief everybody deserves a fair go, a fair shot.

And we share that same spirit – that confidence and optimism – that the future is ours to make; that we don’t have to carry with us all the baggage from the past, that we can leave this world a better, safer, more just place for future generations.

And that’s what brings me here today – the future that we can build together, here in the Asia Pacific region.

Now, this week, I’ve travelled more than 15,000 miles – from America to China to Burma to Australia. I have no idea what time it is right now. I’m completely upside down.

But despite that distance, we know that our world is getting smaller. One of Australia’s great writers spoke of this – a son of Brisbane and a graduate of this university, David Malouf.

And he said, “In that shrinking of distance that is characteristic of our contemporary world, even the Pacific, largest of oceans, has become a lake.”

And you see it here on this campus, where you welcome students from all across Asia and around the world, including a number of Americans. You go on exchanges, and we’re proud to welcome so many of you to the United States. You walk the streets of this city and you hear Chinese, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, Hindi. And in many neighbourhoods more than half the people you meet were born somewhere else. This is a global city in a globalised world.

And I often tell young people in America that, even with today’s challenges, this is the best time in history to be alive.

Never in the history of humanity have people lived longer, are they more likely to be healthy, more likely to be enjoying basic security.

The world is actually much less violent today. And that’s true here in the Asia Pacific as well. Countries once ravaged by war, like South Korea and Japan, are among the world’s most advanced economies.

From the Philippines to Indonesia, dictatorships have given way to genuine democracies. In China and across the region, hundreds of millions of people have been lifted from poverty in the span of one generation, joining a global middle class.

Empowered by technology, you – the young people in particular of this region – are connecting and collaborating across borders and cultures like never before as you seek to build a new future. So the opportunities today are limitless. When you look at the facts, opportunities are limitless for this generation. You’re living in an extraordinary time.

But what is also true, is that alongside this dynamism, there are genuine dangers that can undermine progress.

And we can’t look at those problems through rose-tinted glasses. North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs – that’s a problem.

Disputes over territory, remote islands and rocky shoals that threaten to spiral into confrontation.

The failure to uphold universal human rights, denying justice to citizens and denying countries their full potential. Economic inequality and extreme poverty that are a recipe for instability.

And energy demands in growing cities that also hasten trends towards a changing climate. Indeed, the same technologies that empower citizens like you also give oppressive regimes new tools to stifle dissent.

So the question that we face is, which of these futures will define the Asia Pacific in the century to come? Do we move towards further integration, more justice, more peace? Or do we move towards disorder and conflict? Those are our choices – conflict or cooperation. Oppression or liberty.

Here in Australia three years ago, in your parliament, I made it clear where the United States stands.

We believe that nations and peoples have the right to live in security and peace; that an effective security order for Asia must be based – not on spheres of influence, or coercion, or intimidation where big nations bully the small – but on alliances of mutual security, international law and international norms that are upheld, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

We believe in open markets and trade that is fair and free – a level playing field where economies play by the same rules; where the purpose of trade is not simply to extract resources from the ground, but to build true partnerships that raise capacity and living standards in poor countries; where small business owners and entrepreneurs and innovators have the freedom to dream and create and flourish; and how well a country does is based on how well they empower their individual citizens.

And we believe in democracy – that the only real source of legitimacy is the consent of the people; that every individual is born equal with fundamental rights, inalienable rights, and that it is the responsibility of governments to uphold these rights. This is what we stand for. That is our vision – the future America is working toward in the Asia Pacific, with allies and friends.

Now as a Pacific power, the United States has invested our blood and treasure to advance this vision.

When I assumed office, leaders and people across the region were expressing their desire for greater American engagement. And so as President, I decided that – given the importance of this region to American security, to American prosperity – the United States would rebalance our foreign policy and play a larger and lasting role in this region. That’s exactly what we’ve done.

Today, our alliances, including with Australia, are stronger than they have ever been. American exports to this region have reached record levels.

We’ve deepened our cooperation with emerging powers and regional organisations, especially in Southeast Asia. We expanded our partnerships with citizens as they’ve worked to bolster their democracies.

And we’ve shown that – whether it’s a tsunami or an earthquake or a typhoon – when our friends are in need, America shows up. We’re there to help.

In good times and bad, you can count on the United States of America.

Now, there have been times when people have been sceptical of this rebalancing. They’re wondering whether America has the staying power to sustain it. And it’s true that in recent years pressing events around the world demand our attention.

As the world’s only superpower, the United States has unique responsibilities that we gladly embrace. We’re leading the international community in the fight to destroy the terrorist group ISIL.

We’re leading in dealing with Ebola in West Africa and in opposing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – which is a threat to the world, as we saw in the appalling shoot-down of MH17, a tragedy that took so many innocent lives, among them your fellow citizens.

As your ally and friend, America shares the grief of these Australian families, and we share the determination of your nation for justice and accountability. So, yes, we have a range of responsibilities. That’s the deal. It’s a burden we gladly shoulder.

But even in each of these international efforts, some of our strongest partners are our allies and friends in this region, including Australia.

So meeting these other challenges in the world is not a distraction from our engagement in this region, it reinforces our engagement in this region.

Our rebalance is not only about the United States doing more in Asia, it’s also about the Asia Pacific region doing more with us around the world.

So I’m here today to say that American leadership in the Asia Pacific will always be a fundamental focus of my foreign policy. It won’t always make the headlines.

It won’t always be measured in the number of trips I make – although I do keep coming back.

But day in, and day out, steadily, deliberately, we will continue to deepen our engagement using every element of American power – diplomacy, military, economic, development, the power of our values and our ideals.

And here in the Asia Pacific, nobody has more at stake when it comes to thinking about and then acting on climate change.

Here, a climate that increases in temperature will mean more extreme and frequent storms, more flooding, rising seas that submerge Pacific islands.

Here in Australia, it means longer droughts, more wildfires.

The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened. Worldwide, this past summer was the hottest on record. No nation is immune, and every nation has a responsibility to do its part.

And you’ll recall at the beginning I said the United States and Australia has a lot in common.

Well, one of the things we have in common is we produce a lot of carbon. Part of it’s this legacy of wide-open spaces and the frontier mentality, and this incredible abundance of resources.

And so, historically, we have not been the most energy-efficient of nations, which means we’ve got to step up.

We can get this done. And it is necessary for us to get it done. Because I have not had time to go to the Great Barrier Reef – and I want to come back, and I want my daughters to be able to come back, and I want them to be able to bring their daughters or sons to visit. And I want that there 50 years from now.

Now, today, I’m announcing that the United States will take another important step.

We are going to contribute $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund so we can help developing nations deal with climate change. But let me say, particularly again to the young people here: Combating climate change cannot be the work of governments alone.

Citizens, especially the next generation, you have to keep raising your voices, because you deserve to live your lives in a world that is cleaner and that is healthier and that is sustainable. But that is not going to happen unless you are heard.

It is in the nature of things that those of us who start getting grey hair are a little set in our ways, that interests are entrenched – not because people are bad people, it’s just that’s how we’ve been doing things.

And we make investments, and companies start depending on certain energy sources, and change is uncomfortable and difficult.

And that’s why it’s so important for the next generation to be able to step in and say, no, it doesn’t have to be this way. You have the power to imagine a new future in a way that some of the older folks don’t always have.

And the same is true when it comes to issues of democracy and human rights. There are times where when we speak out on these issues we are told that democracy is just a Western value.

I fundamentally disagree with that. And so here in Asia and around the world, America supports free and fair elections, because citizens must be free to choose their own leaders.

We support freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, a free and open internet, strong civil societies, because the voices of the people must be heard and leaders must be held accountable – even though it’s uncomfortable sometimes.

We support strong institutions and independent judiciaries and open government, because the rule of force must give way to the rule of law.

And in that same fashion, the United States will continue to stand up for the inherent dignity of every human being. Now, dignity begins with the most basic of needs – a life free of hunger and disease and want.

So, yes, we’ll speak out on behalf of human rights, but we are also going to invest in the agriculture that allows farmers to feed their families and boost their incomes.

We intend to partner with all the countries in the region to create stronger public health systems and new treatments that save lives and realise our goals of being the first AIDS-free generation.

And again, I want to speak to young people about this. When we talk about these issues of development, when we invest in the wellbeing of people on the other side of the globe, when we stand up for freedom, including occasionally having to engage in military actions, we don’t do that just because we are charitable.

We do that because we recognise that we are linked, and that if somebody, some child is stricken with a curable disease on the other side of the world, at some point that could have an impact on our child.

We’ll advance human dignity by standing up for the rights of minorities, because no one’s equality should ever be denied.

We will stand up for freedom of religion – the right of every person to practice their faith as they choose – because we are all children of God, and we are all fallible.

And the notion that we, as a majority, or the state should tell somebody else what to believe with respect to their faith, is against our basic values.

We will stand up for our gay and lesbian fellow citizens, because they need to be treated equally under the law.

We will stand up for the rights and futures of our wives and daughters and partners, because I believe that the best measure of whether a nation is going to be successful is whether they are tapping the talents of their women and treating them as full participants in politics and society and the economy.

And we’re going to continue to invest in the future of this region, and that means you, this region’s youth – all of you – your optimism, your idealism, your hopes.

So that’s the future we can build together. That’s the commitment America is making in the Asia Pacific.

It’s a partnership not just with nations, but with people, with you, for decades to come. Bound by the values we share, guided by the vision we seek, I am absolutely confident we can advance the security and the prosperity and the dignity of people across this region.

And in pursuit of that future, you will have no greater friend than the United States of America.

This is an edited version of Obama’s speech presented by Brisbane’s Courier Mail.