About the Author: Timothy Neely serves as Environment, Science, Technology and Health Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.

Do you know which country’s constitution promises that a minimum of 60 percent its land area will be maintained as forest for all time? Which country’s government pledges to protect, conserve, and improve the pristine environment and safeguard the biodiversity of the country; prevent pollution and ecological degradation; secure ecologically balanced sustainable development while promoting justifiable economic and social development; and ensure a safe and healthy environment? The answer is the Kingdom of Bhutan, a small Himalayan country located between China and India. Bhutan’s use of a “Gross National Happiness” index to measure progress, rather than GDP, is well-known, but fewer people know of the importance that Bhutan attaches to conserving its natural environment and biodiversity.

The Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation held in Thimphu, Bhutan… more »

About the Author: Tomicah Tillemann serves as the Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies.

Our work to rebalance U.S. diplomacy in Asia goes beyond economic and security considerations. We are also committed to standing up for America’s values.

In mid-November, I was in the city of Hangzhou, China participating in a groundbreaking conference on the role of civil society in U.S. foreign policy. The meeting was organized by the Institute for American Studies at Zhejiang University, and it marked the first time scholars in China have ever come together to discuss why organizations outside of government are such an important feature of America’s global engagement.

Participants in the meeting included experts from Chinese universities, the Academy of Sciences, and leaders from American civil society organizations. Our Chinese colleagues arrived with a wide range of assumptions about how American civil society groups operate and the degree to which… more »

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosts the third annual U.S.-Indonesian Joint Commission meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister R.M. Marty Natalegawa at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., September 20, 2012. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with senior Indonesian officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Raden Mohammad Marty Muliana Natalegawa, to discuss the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, September 3-4. Secretary Clinton also held a bilateral meeting with ASEAN Secretary General Surin to emphasize the United States’ commitment to building an enduring, multi-faceted relationship between ASEAN and the United States.

In her meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister… more »

Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State
Jakarta, Indonesia
September 4, 2012

SECRETARY CLINTON: …In short, we are making a sustained, all-out effort to build an enduring, multi-faceted relationship between ASEAN and the United States. We want to do all we can to advance ASEAN’s goal of integration, because we have an interest in strengthening ASEAN’s ability to address regional challenges in an effective, comprehensive way.

And we really invite and need ASEAN to lead in crafting strong, regional responses to challenges like climate change and trans-national crime, which require collective actions. And we need ASEAN to lead in upholding a system of rules and responsibilities that will protect regional stability and guide the region to greater political and economic progress.

So, Dr. Surin, it is a great honor for me now to have returned for a second visit to conduct, if you will, a progress report among partners and friends, and to state once again what I have said in other contexts. The United States believes in ASEAN centrality, and ASEAN centrality is essential to ASEAN unity. So I am looking forward to our exchange today and the dialogue among us, looking forward to continuing to work on behalf of the U.S.-ASEAN relationship. MORE

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with senior officials in Jakarta, Indonesia, September 3, 2012. You can follow the Secretary’s travel on http://www.state.gov. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]