美國副總統彭斯東盟赴會強調美國承諾

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is in Singapore for regional summits during which he will highlight the Trump administration's commitment to keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open, but where leaders will be watching closely what he will actually offer, both on security as well as trade and investment.

In a briefing to reporters, a senior administration official said the vice president's visit to the region will unveil “concrete, substantive initiatives” to fulfill the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy outlined by President Donald Trump in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, last year.

The strategy focuses on achieving free markets and freedom of navigation in the region, and replaces the Obama-era “pivot to Asia,” a strategic “re-balancing” of U.S. interests from Europe and the Middle East.

In Asia, he will likely highlight the American alternative, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC), a new agency created under the bipartisan BUILD Act. The new $60 billion initiative supports private investments for infrastructure projects around the world.

Marc Mealy, vice president on policy at the US-ASEAN Business Council, a lobby group for American companies, hopes the USIDFC will help position the American business community as a “viable and credible alternative commercial partner” for Southeast Asia.

One of the issues in focus at the Singapore summits is the trade spat between Washington and Beijing, which has left countries in the region on edge.

The U.S.-Sino tariff wars have forced Southeast Asian nations to rethink their business strategy, and there have been winners and losers in different sectors of individual countries.

Countries are also watching the Trump administration's trade and tariff policies with allies in the region. In Japan, Pence pushed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a bilateral trade agreement that President Trump hopes will cut Tokyo's trade surplus with Washington.

In Singapore, Pence is expected to continue the U.S. bilateral free-trade agenda with several countries in the region, including Vietnam and the Philippines.

This may be at odds with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which prefers to deal with trading partners as a regional block.

ASEAN already has five free-trade agreements with all of the major economies in Asia-Pacific, including China, Japan, India, South Korea and New Zealand. The regional block is trying to bring all five of the individual deals into a single agreement called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that, if concluded, would constitute more than forty percent of the world's population.

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang will attend the ASEAN – China Summit and the East Asia Summit in Singapore and President Xi Jinping will be at APEC. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be going to the summits in Singapore and Port Moresby.美國副總統彭斯前往新加坡參加地區峯會，期間他將強調特朗普政府致力於保持印度洋太平洋地區的自由和開放。與會領導人將密切關注他在安全、貿易和投資等方面能提供的實際幫助。

一位高級政府官員在向記者介紹情況時表示，彭斯副總統這次東南亞之行將公佈“具體，實質性舉措”，以實現特朗普總統去年在越南峴港舉行的亞太經合組織會議上所闡述的“自由開放的印度-太平洋”戰略。

該戰略的重點是實現這一地區的市場自由和航行自由，取代奧巴馬時代將美國在歐洲和中東的戰略“重新平衡”的“轉向亞洲”政策。

彭斯在亞洲之際可能會強調美國的替代方案，即美國國際開發金融公司（USIDFC），一個根據兩黨法案創建的新機構。其新的600億美元計劃支持私人投資全球基礎設施項目。

美國 - 東盟商業理事會政策副總裁Marc Mealy希望美國國際金融公司能夠幫助美國商界成爲東南亞“可行和可靠的替代商業夥伴”。

新加坡首腦會議關注的焦點之一是華盛頓與北京之間的貿易爭端，這讓東南亞國家感到不安。

美中關稅戰迫使這些國家重新考慮其商業戰略，在各國的不同領域都有贏家和輸家。

各國也在關注特朗普政府與該地區盟友的貿易和關稅政策。在日本，彭斯推動日本首相安倍晉三達成雙邊貿易協議，特朗普總統希望該協議將削減東京與華盛頓的貿易順差。

彭斯預計將在新加坡繼續推動與越南和菲律賓在內的當地幾個國家的雙邊自由貿易議程。

這可能與東南亞國家聯盟（ASEAN）不一致，後者更願意作爲一個整體與貿易伙伴進行交易。

東盟已經與亞太地區的所有主要經濟體簽訂了五項自由貿易協定，包括中國、日本、印度、韓國和新西蘭。東盟正在努力將所有五個單獨協議納入一項稱爲區域全面經濟夥伴關係（RCEP）的協議，如果最終完成，該協議將涵蓋全球40％以上的人口。

中國總理李克強將出席在新加坡舉行的東盟 - 中國峯會和東亞峯會，習近平主席將出席亞太經合組織會議。俄羅斯總統普京也將參加在新加坡和莫爾茲比港舉行的峯會。