The US has got too much at hands!

Comments on Donald Emmerson “China’s ‘frown diplomacy’ in Southeast Asia”, 8/10/2010, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2010/10/08/chinas-frown-diplomacy-in-southeast-asia/
The US has many things to be concerned or worry about, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the middle east, its economy in terms of slow recovery, high unemployment and big deficits.

The book of Obama's Wars reflects part of the problems the US has been having: its military still thinks it is invincible and can win the Afghanistan war to a decent standard, but its political master has to consider its costs in both short and long terms and has to take a different direction.

In that context and with implications for the Southeast Asia region, the following from the post is interesting to note:

"As for the divergence of Southeast Asian and American perspectives on China, suffice it to recall this remark by a high-ranking official in an ASEAN country: ‘Remember,’ he told me, ‘for us in Asia, the US is geopolitical, but China is geographical.’ In other words: Faraway friends are welcome and helpful, but the local landscape is a permanent fact. One has to adapt to it — and to the seascape — to survive."