U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2005)

U.S. Department of State

The U.S. and India: The New Strategic Partnership

R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Remarks to the Asia Society
New York City
October 18, 2005

(As delivered)

Introduction

President Desai, Ambassador Holbrooke, Secretary John Whitehead, members of the Tata Group, David Goode, distinguished members of the Asia Society, friends:

I am honored to be invited today to speak to such a distinguished group of individuals. As you approach your 50th anniversary in a few months, the Asia Society can be proud of all it has done to bring together East and West, Asians and Americans, diplomats, business people and private observers, to deepen the understanding among the people of Asia and the United States.

Your half-century of work mirrors the great change in America's engagement with Asia during that same period. Once remote and exotic to most Americans, Asia has been an abiding preoccupation for American strategists since the end of World War II in September 1945. We Americans knew throughout the Cold War period, from the Communist victory in China to the debate over Quemoy and Matsu to Vietnam and beyond, that what happened in Asia had a direct impact on our most vital national interests.

But, most Americans, and a surprising number of policymakers, had a limited geographic view of Asia for most of the Cold War. How many senior American policy makers came to the Asia Society to discuss South Asia during your 50 years? Asia meant China, our alliances with Japan, South Korea and Australia. It meant Indonesia and Southeast Asia. But, it rarely meant South Asia - India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the other states of the area. This had never been considered a region of front-line policy interests for our country. But, all that has changed, and changed dramatically, during the last four years.

As we look out over the century ahead, there will be no region of the world more vital to America's long-term military, economic and political interests than Asia. And the part of Asia that is now receiving the most substantial new attention of American diplomats, generals, strategists and business people is South Asia and, in particular, India.

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