U.S. President Barack Obama's signature foreign policy initiative is the rebalance to Asia. The rebalance is designed to marry the United States and Asia, the world's most dynamic region, so that the U.S. can better tap that vitality for the rejuvenation of its own economy and resurgence in the aftermath of two wars.
While most of the attention generated by this policy has focused on the military component, in fact the rebalance is as much an internal rebalancing among pieces of the foreign policy tool box as a geographic one.
From the outset, Washington has emphasized that the rebalance aims to readjust the way the U.S. engages with Asia. Traditionally the military has been the leading edge of the U.S. presence in the region. The rebalance, as then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodman Clinton noted in 2011, begins with forward-based diplomacy. By that, she meant active pursuit of initiatives such as the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the sub-leader level meetings that attempt to forge new regional architecture to deal with emerging challenges.
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