ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the United States in the Twenty First Century

For 21 years the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN has been a model organization for regional cooperation among developing nations. It has provided an example to all South Asian Nations whom are themselves moving toward closer ties of cooperation as in SAARC -- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Important aspects of this trend are the development of economic and security cooperation agreements that will likely have great impact on the political alignments of the 21st century. Given the non-communist stance of ASEAN is should be a key element in the long range security plans of the United States. Economically, the rapidly rising importance of all of the Pacific Rim countries, with ASEAN representing nearly 300 million people, will be economically involved to a great degree in the international economic battlegrounds of the 21st century. The combination of the political and economic leverage that could be exerted by ASEAN may make them a formidable ally, or adversary. Recognizing this, Japan is already courting ASEAN with a strategic economically speaking eye to the future. Great developmental interplay by the United States has not been as strong as some ASEAN member countries would have.