Prior to the Congressional recess, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) questioned Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell about US involvement in Southeast Asia, and competition with the PRC.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:03Good morning, Deputy Secretary Campbell.
00:05It's so good to see you again.
00:07I've really appreciated that over the course of our relationship, we've been able to be
00:12quite candid with one another, particularly as I reflect on when I think the United States
00:17has missed its mark on its past engagement.
00:20So I want to ask you today to think critically about where we can improve our efforts.
00:25And I think we can look outside, you know, outside the Indo-Pacific to make these assessments
00:30when it comes to our strategic competition with the PRC.
00:33But I also think there are cases within the Indo-Pacific.
00:36For example, I just got back from Laos and Vietnam, where I was the first U.S. senator
00:40to visit Laos in 15 years.
00:43And I found a country hungry for U.S. presence.
00:48And I found a country littered with debt trap infrastructure projects that they will never
00:53be able to pay back, crumbling roads that were built with borrowed money to the tunes
01:00of billions of dollars that are not generating any revenue.
01:04And yet I saw so many opportunities.
01:06Something as simple as I went out and visited an ADB, an Asian Development Bank, project
01:11where they help local villages next to major natural resource tourist sites build a whole
01:20place where people can go swimming in these beautiful lagoons and they get over 500 visitors
01:26a day at each of these sites.
01:29And in talking with them, they said, you know, the only when we have problems with tourists
01:33in the lagoons getting into swimming trouble and they're about to drown, it's the American
01:37tourists are pulling them out because American tourists have lifeguard training, many of
01:41them, and first aid training.
01:42And it would be great if somebody could provide us with lifeguard training and we would pay
01:46our young people and they wouldn't have to move to the big cities or leave the country.
01:50And something as simple as that, brainstorming with our ambassador to try to find funding
01:56for simple U.S. lifeguard training, which they would love to have.
02:00Low cost, high impact, really good projects that could happen.
02:04And so I think, you know, in order for the United States to be seen as a credible, reliable
02:08partner and provide an alternate choice of the PRC where we don't have a strong track
02:13record of security relationship, we need to at least be showing up, right?
02:17Things like this lifeguard training or some of this.
02:21But I also think that there was an opportunity for capacity building in public health, in
02:26particular.
02:27So can you tell us something about how the U.S. approach with partner nations in a public
02:31health space and other areas like this can build trust and enhance our presence in the
02:35region beyond, you know, we rely too much on security and defense, I think.
02:40So first of all, Senator, let me just thank you.
02:43You have been a voice that has consistently asked for more engagement of the United States
02:49in ASEAN and specific countries.
02:51And I would also say I'm grateful that you raise cases of small countries like Laos and
02:57Cambodia.
02:59There's a tendency sometimes to think that these countries are just in the Chinese orbit
03:05and that's that.
03:06But the truth is that when we set up the first ASEAN summit, which you were a key backer
03:12of two years ago, when we brought all the ASEAN leaders to Washington, it was difficult
03:18to get agreement among all these nations to come.
03:22The two nations that were quietly some of the strongest voices in having that happen
03:28were Laos and Cambodia, because they too want options.
03:31They want a deeper relationship.
03:33I love the idea of lifeguards.
03:36Anything that you think we could do that, you know, high impact, I'm all ears for.
03:45I'm going to go back to the building right now and see what's possible.
03:48I will say this, Senator, our greatest thing in Southeast Asia is that we engage ASEAN
03:55as an institution as well as individual countries.
03:58I think we've done very well in Vietnam.
04:00We've done very well in the Philippines.
04:04I think we've engaged effectively in Indonesia.
04:11But I think we could do more in a number of countries, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
04:17And I want to thank you.
04:18You in particular have pushed us to do more.
04:21I think we have a few things that we'd like to do in this arena as we approach the end
04:26of the Biden administration.
04:27So I completely accept the proposition and am always looking to do more for our friends
04:36and partners in Southeast Asia.
04:37Wonderful.
04:38I am almost out of time.
04:39I would love to be able to meet with you and talk with you a little bit about some of these
04:42initiatives later.
04:43Done.
04:45And also the Pacific Island countries.
04:46I'm glad that Congress finally funded and renewed COFUS, the COFUS agreement.
04:51Thank goodness.
04:52You've got to give yourselves a bigger pat on the back than that.
04:54Let's be clear.
04:55In a period of unbelievable division, one thing got through.
05:00The COFUS agreement, after 20 years, a negotiation was really hard, was passed by the Senate
05:07and the House.
05:08A huge, huge achievement.
05:10Made a big impression on our countries in the Pacific.
05:14So you should not dismiss that.
05:16That was a big act of legislative leadership and helped us enormously.
05:20We are doing much better in the Pacific than we were three years ago, and that's largely
05:25because of the urging and support of this committee.
05:28An expansion of more of our consular activities in the region would be really helpful.
05:32You touched on it earlier.
05:34We're doing this.
05:35Senator Risch and his team have urged us, look, the restrictions on new buildings and
05:41how to build stuff and stuff is hard and difficult.
05:45We've sought exceptions.
05:46We are actually working with other like-minded countries that we can put our diplomats at
05:51their facilities.
05:53We need to do more in the Pacific.
05:55This is like we have moral, historic, strategic reasons.
05:59We are doing more.
06:00We are better.
06:01We're working with our allies and partners.
06:03Ultimately, we've got to be able to represent ourselves.
06:07These island nations are proud.
06:10They've been with us for decades.
06:12They vote with us.
06:13We should not take them for granted.
06:17Thank you, Mr. Chairman.