Letter to the Editor

Re: Next President should focus more on Asia.
I think that an account of how the United States should focus more on Asia, from a foundation mixed with Asian and American logistics and views, is an interesting way to analyze the situation. Normally, this type of account would allow the reader to see both perspectives of the nations in question. Although Paul suggests that it is a foundation of both ethnicities by quoting the retired US diplomat and the South Korean Minister, who developed parts of the study, I think that Paul fails to address the views of the Asians in the article. The article highlights how the U.S has been neglecting Asian diplomacy, not how (according to Han Sung-Joo, Tommy Koh, C. Raja Mohan of the study) Asia “wants the U.S to be an effective, global leader” when dealing with, as stated in Peter’s article, “pressing international problems.”
However, Peter does include quotes from the South Korean Foreign Minister on the topic of how the next president “will inherit the North Korean nuclear problem and should not lose time in diplomacy aimed at talking Pyongyang into giving up its atomic weapons.” Peter includes this claim to show how the American government might lose sight of important economical relations with Asia, and how Asia does not want this to occur. Though this point is an interesting outlook of why the U.S would be more active in Asia, it does not explain why it should.
The U.S focus “on the urgent at the expense of the important,” explains how the U.S. has lost some of its standings in Asian politics, but not why the U.S should focus more on Asia. In the Introduction to the study titled “Americas Role in Asia,” it explains how the U.S. is losing its dominant role in Asian trade due to the rising regional identity of Asia that constitutes the majority of Intra-Asian trade. I may have assumed that the U.S. might want to be more focused on Asia due to economic reasons, but I would have not known that the U.S’s importance to maintain this relationship was so dire because of the declining majority it has within Asian trade interactions.
Peter’s extensive knowledge of the study puts him at a credible position with his audience to consider his point; however I think he missed out on a few details that would allow reader to fully understand why the next president should focus more on Asia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1034895420080911