In 2011, the Obama administration launched an approach to East Asia called the “rebalance to Asia.” One aspect of the rebalance was supposed to be strengthening security relationships in Southeast Asia, including through bilateral security assistance. Yet an analysis of U.S. security assistance to Southeast Asian nations shows that, in nominal dollars, overall security aid to Southeast Asia fell by 19 percent since 2010, the year before the rebalance was launched. Accounting for inflation, the overall decline in U.S. security assistance to the region would have been even steeper.
Of the 10 nations in Southeast Asia, only Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam …read more
Source: The Huffington Post
