Sheer, whos our assistant secretary of defense for east asia in the pacific. You know that david was had come back from hanoi to do this job. He was our u. S. Ambassador there. David is an expert on china and Southeast Asia. I think for many of us who are sort of in the trenches every day on these issues, couldnt think of a better person for the pentagon to put into this role. Next to him is one of the top Southeast Asiaenists in the United States, and he also is singapores ambassador to the United States. Aspoke. He was most recently singapores ambassador to indonesia. He was in the past has been singapores ambassador also to australia. And to quaul la lumpur and has a long history in Singapore Foreign affairs working on asiarelated affairs. And finally, a good friend and a real hero of Southeast Asia and asian policy in the senate is chris bros. He works with senator mccain in senator mccains office. Previous before that he was senior staffer in the Senate Armed Services committee. And chris came rose through the ranks intoog some pretty interesting things including writing speeches for and advising people like Collin Powell and condoleeza rice and he spends a lot of time in asia, more than most senate staffers, unfortunately. So, without further ado, what we want to talk about in this panel is architecture as it relates to security. Im going to ask my colleagues to kick it off in the order that were seated in. And then well open up the panel to some question and answer. So, david, its over to you. Thank you very much, ernie. Its great to be back at csis. And its a great honor to be joined up here with the ambassadors. Ive been in my job my new job at d. O. D. For almost exactly one month now. And i can tell you, gwynn all of his history, the secretary of defense, the deputy secretary of defense, the under secretary of defense for policy, my chain of command are deeply committed to the rebalance to east asia and weve seen that most recently in deputy secretary works travel to the region. Youll see a fleury of senior level meetings and encounters this fall including coming up security subcommittee meeting chaired on the american side by myself and east asia secretary of state danny russell. Next week well be going to seoul before we go to soak yoe. Tokyo. Youll see a defense consult tattive talks with the chinese. You will see military consultative meeting and security consultative meeting with our rok allies. Also in november, of course, president obama will be visiting beijing and defense issues will, of course, be part of his agenda in his bilateral discussions with president xi. With the president. Again, the rebalance is among the highest priorities on my agenda as well as on my senior leaderships agenda. And you will see me focusing very clearly on rebalancedrelated issues in my earliest days in my tenure. Id like to share with you some of the issues that some of the big issues i will be focusing on, i think, as assistant secretary of defense over the next months and years. The first one is modernizing our alliances and partnerships. Theres a lot on the agenda in this regard from the review of the defense guidelines with jap to the opcon issue with our rok allies to updating the defense framework with india, which we mentioned in the joint statement in Prime Minister modis most recent visit to washington. And the fpa with australia. All of sthees are foundational issuesed in strengthening of our Alliance Architecture in the western pacific. All of these will guide the way in which we shape our alliances over the next 10 to 15 years. Were going toment to finish strong on all of these agreements, successful conclusion and implementation matters. This certainly will set the stage for closer cooperation between the United States and its important allies in east asia and the pacific. Second, very important big issue well be working on is solidifying the militarytomilitary relationship with china. Secretary hagel had a very good meeting with the foreign minister the other day here in washington. The foreign minister was here to, of course, review u. S. Bilateral relations and planning for the president s trip to beijing. As you probably have seen in the strategic and economic dialogue, both sides recommitted to working on a set of confidence Building Measures and we will be working on that set in advance of the president s trip to beijing. A third set of big issues we will be working on is knitting together allied and partner cooperation. Evan medeiros spoke during his remarks of our partnership, particularly u. S. Japan u. S. japan india. Cooperation among our allies and partners in east area. Were very gratified to see increased cooperation between japan and australia, between japan and india. Were also gratified to see greater diplomatic coordination between partner and friends like vietnam, the philippines and malaysia. All of this greatly strengthens security and stability in the asiapacific. And we believe can contribute to the reduction of tensions, particularly in the south china sea. Another area i will be focusing on, of course, is strengthening u. S. asean defense ties. We have seen the establishment over the past few years of the admm plus. Weve had great progress in building Regional Defense cooperation. Secretary hagel certainly is very interested in his encounters with his counterparts during his shangrila dialogue at the admm plus and most recently also repeatedly in april in connection with the u. S. asean defense ministerial meeting in honolulu. And we hope that can be a future fixture in our defense relations with asean. Of course, as we work all of these issues with our partners, friends and others in east asia, well also want to be working with them to manage disputes and issues that generate tension. I dont need to mention how important maintaining security and stability, particularly in the south china sea, is to us. Our position on this has been made Crystal Clear on many occasions. Its going to remain a very strong focus for me and for my leadership in dod in the coming months. Why dont i stop there and let my other friends comment . Thank you, david. Ambassador . Thank you. Congratulations, again, to you and csis for putting together this conference to look at some of these bigger pictures in the asia architecture and in particular Security Architecture. How critical it is for u. S. Interests Going Forward. I wanted to look both at the big picture and at asean and as an asean ambassador here. It focus us on achltdsean centr. The main reason why the architecture is important is that the region has enjoyed a peaceful and secure and stable environment for several decades. Something that many of us in fact take for granted. And these conditions have enabled growth and prosperity, which is a key thing we want to see out of the asiapacific. The regional architecture is really designed to preserve this. But in this postcold war geopolitical environment, were starting to see fairly dramatic shift. And thats where conversations about the architecture become important. The environment is shifting. Southeast asia in particular is becoming more complicated as a region as we have to reposition ourselves in the context of washingtons and beijings search for new ee quib lib reyum. Its complex. Its more than washington and beijing. There are other major powers that continue to adjust the relationship with each other and with asean and tensions in the region have risen. And there are several potential flash points that have to be managed. That makes the architecture a very important for us to look at. Aseans role and aseans centrality have in many ways played a very crucial part in maintaining Regional Peace and security. But i dont want to overplay this role in aseans strategic weight. Those of you who know asean and know the rest of the region, you know this is aseans central role is due to the fact we are a neutral platform rather than because we carry a strategic heft. In the neutral platform, asean has offered a space for all major powers to discuss issues of concern, to build trust and to promote cooperation. What asean has done is to promote an open and inclusive approach and welcomes engagement of all major powers. Its a critical part of asean that were not just an Organization Includes dialogue partners and other major powers with us. This is characteristic in all the aseanled mechanisms that we have put in place that form a regional architecture that is open, inclusive and outward looking. In particular, we value the contribution of the u. S. To all of these aseanled forum, as well as the asean ministers meeting. For more than 60 years, the u. S. Presence has been a stabilizing influence that has underpinned asia and asean growth. There are we will hear this regularly multiple and overlapping structures of the asean regional architecture that reflect in many ways the diversity of the asiapacific region. From our view, this overlapping structure makes the framework more flexible and resilient. Let me go through briefly each one of the structures that we have in the security area. The first and the longest running has been the arf which was created in 1994 as a forum for security discussions that will engage not just the major powers but also middle and smaller regional powers to preserve their stake in the regional stability in the postcold war era. For example, the arf today is the only multilateral security consultive framework in the region in which the dpk participates. Another structure we have is the admm plus. The as aechlt n defense ministers plus which came into force in 006. Its establishment of the admm first was really the commitment of asean countries to have the military establishments to Work Together to address transnational Security Issues. We then expanded this to have the admm plus. Which comprises asean with the other partners which has become not just a channel for dialogue but also an actionoriented avenue for defense ministers from the region and beyond to come together to discuss Practical Solutions to manage. They have done exercises to pull together various militaries into these operations. The third structure is the eas, which we are looking forward to next month which the president will attend. With the expansion eas was established in 2005, expansion in 2011 to include the u. S. And asia, it has brought the powers together. The key focus now for the eas is really to focus in consolidating for the future. And while it remains a leaders led forum for strategic discussions of the future, what asean is very keen to have brought into the eas areas of function appear cooperation because these really this adds to the agenda and help to build on the architecture in order to keep the mechanism alive and healthy. It adds a certain balance and structure and ensures that the eas remains a credible forum for constructive cooperation. Various ideas in which the u. S. Can play a role in the functional cooperation areas include disaster management, education, finance, energy, which you spoke about earlier this morning. Looking ahead at all these structures, a frequent complaint and almost criticism has been all these asean centered regional architecture structures have emerged into a spaghetti bowl that people find difficult to unravel. From aseans point of view, mechanisms each play a unique role. They reinforce each other to serve the common interests of maintaining regional stability and growth. The prospective of trying to rationalization the Security Architecture into a single arrangement or to try to impose a hierarchy among them will be very difficult, if not impossible. Instead, our view is that these regional structures and architecture should be allowed to evolve, adapt bs and find a natural equilibrium at their own pace as we improve ways to get better coordination and develop synergy among the mechanisms. In this regard, we have actually welcomed dialogue partners to give ideas for the future of this architecture and taking on proposals and how to improve the existing frameworks. What is critical in all this is what we must ensure the regional architecture for all the reasons they have been successful is that asean remains very much at the core. Keeps that place as a neutral platform and continues to reflect the diversity of the region and remain open and inclusive. Indonesia, in particular from asean as proposed an indo treaty. Next week in jakarta, the eas workshop and Security Framework will meet to discuss this further. These are some of the ideas of we are looking at how we can make this better. Let me say a few words about the u. S. Engagement. As i said earlier, the u. S. Has played an integral role in the regional architecture and remakes a critical and unique component in the future. Its important for the u. S. To stay engaged. This engagement must be broadbased and multipronged. The region appreciates the u. S. s support and has come across time in again in the various comments and speeches that have been made by u. S. Leaders about how important the asean centrality is in the evolving regional architecture. Importantly asean and the u. S. Share many strategic perspectives and we should Work Together to continue to build up the existing institutions and keep the architecture open. We also welcome the u. S. Support for key principles like peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with International Law, the right of freedom of navigation and the right of overflight. In conclusion, let me summarize the three principles that asean looks at regional architecture from our perspective. First, asean should be at its core in order to maintain asean unity and cooperation. Second, it should reflect the diversity of the region. Third, it should remain open and inclusive. As there are overlapping structures, from our point of view they make the regional architecture more resilient and stable. From our view, the architecture should follow the agenda rather than vice versa. Thank you very much. Excellent. Thank you very much. Chris . I think you want to give the ambassador a round of applause for that . I heard it coming. [ applause ] i dont want to deny that for you and it was organic and it was congress your way. Chris, over to you. Thank you. Thanks csis for having me here today. Obviously, look, im extremely flattered to be among the company that im in. Clearly, you can tell one of these things is not like the other. My first name is not ambassador. By way the making the point further, i was telling dave earlier that my signature accomplishment on asia this year has been playing some small role in the confirmation of dave shear. So you can sort of see clearly what youre getting here. Look, congress is not a participant in asias architecture. Maybe you can all be thankful for that. What i would like to try to do is give you a little bit of a sense of how the hill is looking at some of these security challenges and we can back into the asia architecture question. What i would like to try to do is sort of frame it in terms of two questions, both of which kind of appeared on the cover of the economist this year. I think these are the kind of these are the two questions that are really overhanging. And the first, this was a couple weeks back, very plainly, what does china want . This is something that as members of congress are looking at the region, theyre increasingly traveling through the region, id stress its still a small group. Its not by any means extensive to the entire body. This is a question i think members of congress are confronting. They want the United States to have and believe the United States can have and should have a very constructive relationship with china. They see all of the benefits and all of the common areas of cooperation between the countries. They recognize that, you know, theres a lot of upside there for both countries together. And yet they look at a sort of pattern of behavior that is concerning to them. The pattern of behavior is Something Like this. You know, its a series of action that are not sort of purely diplomatic. Neither are they purely military. They sort of occur in a gray area. There appears to be a strategy of incremental creation of facts on the ground or in the air or at the sea. And, you know, theres a concern, i think, that this is what we are seeing is sort of a long game, an attempt to incrementally move by move change the status quo unlaterally, never in a way that sort of fundamentally trips a wire and, you know, triggers a response on behalf of the United States or others. But nonetheless, continues to move the needle such that five to ten years from now, were all looking back and its a very different its a very different region that were looking at. And i think theres the prevailing view in the congress is, look, china thinks about its Foreign Policy. So when people say, well, you know, china surely, you know, that youre causing other countries to gang up against you, to criticize you, et cetera, youre driving them closer to the United States, you know, i think these kind of prevailing view on the hill is, well, theres intent there, even if we have to infer it from action. And, you know, that intent is perhaps unsettling, which is this to some extent does reflect conscious action. And its about more than the particular territorial claims that we can discuss today further. Its about a conscious attempt to challenge the balance of power and change it, about even changing key elements or challenging key elements of the International Order, particularly the peaceful resolution of disputes. And most fundamentally as an american is concerned, its a challenge to the american presence and sort of historical role in asia and commitments to countries that we have either formal treaty commitments or otherwise. So i think the question that i think many members of congress and the sort of prevailing view on Congress Comes back to is, again, what does china want . The