EXCLUSIVE – The secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urged the US to invest more in Southeast Asia and put aside tensions with China ahead of his meeting with President Biden over the weekend. “Of course, US investment is one of the biggest now in the region already, but maybe more investment” would help the region, ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Cao Kim Hurn said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. “For example, we have US Peace Corps volunteers working closely in Cambodia. We have projects in the health sector, in the environment sector, in various fields where we have worked together on counter-terrorism,” Cao explained. “So I think it’s good to continue to expand and strengthen all areas of cooperation at all levels.” Biden will visit Cambodia as part of his world tour that will include Egypt and Indonesia, as well as a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Cao spoke enthusiastically about the upcoming, historic meeting with Biden, but insisted that Southeast Asia needs the US to play a “benign” role and not bring “geopolitical rivalry and tension” to the region.
US OIL SPECIALISTS IN ASIA SET TO SET RECORD HIGHS “I think we want to see strategic confidence grow and [everyone] we cooperate,” Cao said. “Of course, where there is, what we call, a trust deficit, that’s where we need to look and try to … increase the level of cooperation across the board.” “The similarity between us and [China] it is deep, but also between us and the US,” he added, urging the US to make such relations “sustainable and close in the long term.” Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, the secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asia spoke with Fox News Digital in the rose garden of the United Nations headquarters shortly before taking up his new post. (Fox News Digital / Fox News) “There [you will see] influence and impact in the long term’. Cao assumed the role of secretary-general in August after his role as Cambodia’s representative to the ASEAN economic body. CHINA, TIKTOK WANT TO USE ‘ALL KINDS OF TECHNOLOGY’ FOR ‘SPYING, EXPLOITATION’: BRENDAN CARR He has leaned toward trying to maintain a peaceful balance between American and Chinese interests. China is currently investing heavily in Southeast Asia, while the US has only in recent years begun to increase investment in the region. Ashok Mipuri, Singapore’s ambassador to the US, said during July’s Aspen Security Forum that Southeast Asia serves as the “heart” of the “competitive dynamic between China and the United States,” which has turned the region into a budding economic hotbed. battle between the two world powers. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, right, attend the signing ceremony of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade pact at the ASEAN summit held online in Hanoi, Vietnam, on November 1 (Photo by Nhac Nguyen /AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images) Ford opened a factory in Cambodia in April after investing $21 million to build facilities in Pursat province, which the Minister’s spokesman to the Prime Minister Keo Rattanak said was part of an effort to attract new businesses and partners to the region. Apple, meanwhile, opened a new iPad factory in Vietnam in 2021 — a process it began in 2019 as part of avoiding U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, the New York Times reported.
STATE, LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUY CHINESE TECHNOLOGY DESPITE FEDERAL ATTEMPTS TO BLOCK EQUIPMENT Cao stressed that the US is just one of many important partners for the region, along with China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. “Our role is to work with our dialogue partners in a transparent, open, inclusive way, and that’s, I think, a strategic trust that we’ve built,” Cao said. Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and President Biden appear on a screen as they hold a meeting via video link in Beijing, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. (Yue Yuewei/Xinhua via AP / AP Newsroom) “If American companies are interested, they can talk to the government and we’ll go from there,” he added. “Not just in this area, but in the energy area … in general. We’re very, very open.” “We now have a very good level of cooperation,” Cao insisted. “We should expand this cooperation and, of course, with enhanced interest.” GORDON CHUNG ON CHINESE SECRET POLICE ARMIES IN US: THIS IS AN ‘AMERICAN POLICE’ ISSUE As such, Cao underscored the value that US investment could not only bring to the region, but could help limit China’s impact. He pointed to a strong relationship rooted in the value of education, with the United States hosting Cambodian students who end up returning and working in the country’s civil service. The Fulbright Scholarship also runs a number of programs in Cambodia to help elevate the country’s educational infrastructure. “Education is very important because we have, you know, Cambodia demographically is a young society,” Cao said. “That’s why the government invests in education and health and the social sector.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP “That’s why I think it’s all about the future: If younger people are better educated and have better skills, I think I’m sure [that] would be the direction. So the US was quite active on many fronts.”