Two weeks after being sworn in as the United States' secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton is on her first foreign trip. Red carpets need not be rolled out in European capitals, however. For while the secretary of state's first visit traditionally is to Europe or the Middle East, Clinton decided to go to Asia. Remarkably, the significance of this choice escapes most Europeans. Illustrative of the lack of attention in Europe for the fundamental changes that the international order is presently undergoing, public debate on Clinton's emphasis on Asia is scant. It is high time for Europe to look outward again and to reconsider its strategic position in global affairs. Relations between the US and other centres of global power are rapidly changing, but policymaking in Europe lags behind.
Clinton, as the top diplomat of the administration of President Barack Obama, is currently on a tour to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, and China. Last Friday, 13 February, at the Asia Society in New York, Clinton delivered her first major speech. She used the occasion to explain why she chose to go to Asia first. The region is of key strategic importance, she said: "[...] our capacity to solve a lot of the global challenges that we're confronting depends upon decisions that are made there." This implies that the strategic importance of other regions - Europe included - is considered to be less than Asia's. Clearly, the new administration's primary focus in foreign relations is on Asia. The fact that the US secretary of state breaks with the longstanding tradition of going to Europe or the Middle East is yet another sign of Asia's rise.
This development is of great significance for the Europeans, who have long been America's most important partners. Washington can choose from an increasing group of actors with whom to collaborate on global issues. This is a positive development for international co-operation, but it also means that Europe's influence in international affairs is on the wane. This is not a process that Europeans can or should try to stop, but it is something that they should take note of and respond to. Ultimately, the consequences for Europe may be as fundamental as the loss of colonial power and the rise of the United States was during the mid-twentieth century. The sooner this is recognised, the better Europe can prepare itself for this development.
To anticipate changing power relations in the world requires, first of all, an interest in developments in other parts of the globe. In this respect, the fact that media attention in Europe has largely failed to address the reasoning and symbolism behind Clinton's trip is truly worrisome. News in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands, for example, has generally been limited to factual reporting, rather than sound analysis. Moreover, Clinton's decision to go to Asia on her first trip is interpreted primarily as a means to re-establish ties with allies and to underline the growing importance of good relations with China. This suggests, erroneously, that Europe is of undiminished importance to the United States and that America is merely practicing symbolic politics by giving Asians the feeling that they are not being forgotten. Hillary Clinton's speech last Friday proved, however, that such an interpretation is plain wrong: Clinton went to Asia because of the growing strategic weight of the region. Europe, in the meantime, is tangled up in internal matters, and does not seem capable - or willing - to see that the world will not wait until the European integration project is finished.
High-level talks this week in the four Asian capitals focus on the global and financial crisis, as well as climate change, security - primarily North Korea, Iran - and humanitarian issues such as Darfur. Europe has vast interests in all of these issues, and European countries - individually and as a whole - have been important partners of the United States in all areas. This makes it all the more remarkable that the US secretary of state chose to meet her counterparts in Asia before setting out for the European continent. The new American administration is shifting the focus of its foreign policy from transatlantic to transpacific relations. This should serve to wake up European policymakers to the fact that the time has past when Asia was important merely for economic reasons. The strategic re-positioning of Europe in the world needs to be placed high on the agenda in Brussels as well as in European capitals. Now more than ever, unprecedented realism and sense of urgency is required - even if this seems to go against the nature of 'soft' and 'normative' power Europe.
This article was also published on the website of EuropeanVoice on 20 February 2009
