The Pentagon’s Strategy Toward Southeast Asia: Bolstering the States along the Seams

Abstract

THE Pentagon has a new strategic map and Southeast Asia is in it. While the region slipped off the American radar following the end of the Vietnam War and the subsequent withdrawal of United States forces from the Philippines, it has reappeared on the Pentagon’s strategic screen after September 11, 2001. Increased levels of military cooperation between the US and Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand have eventuated. American and Vietnamese security officials have made exchange visits. The chill in Indonesia-US defence relations is lifting after years of restrictions on American training and education assistance for Indonesia’s military.