Dear President Obama,

In order to increase America’s influence in the world, I propose that we shift our excessive focus on the Middle East to Asia. A substantial amount of aid money currently alotted for the Middle East should be redirected to Asian countries; this would not only develop the Asian countries but also strengthen alliances. With China as a growing threat to democracy in the region, an Asian Marshall Plan should be implemented.
The Middle East is constantly distracting America’s foreign affairs. While on the surface there seems to be a lot of attention paid to the development of Asian countries, in practice, because of the hindrances created by the various Middle Eastern affairs, this has not been possible. Just this fall, for example, the crisis in Syria barred the presidential participation in a major economic summit meeting.

Redirecting American focus may seem potentially to overlook the various complexities of the Middle East, with unintended consequences arising, but America should carry out this change in the focus of policy incrementally. We should be sensitive to the impact that the shift of aid money may have: If problems should arise, we can partly recalibrate. Ideally, the goal of this redirection would be to narrow our involvement in the Middle East even while we expand our influence in Asia. Instead of blanketing Middle Eastern countries with aid money, we would influence an area that needs focus. The situation in the Middle East is far too complex to allow a clear demonstration of our impact. However, in Asia, America’s financial, military, and diplomatic investments would yield more tangible benefits.

For these reasons, I advocate a 21st century style Marshall Plan, in particular, an Asian Marshall Plan. The United States would give substantial aid to traditional major Asian partners such as Korea and Japan, as well as potential or emerging partners in Southeast Asia. Just as the United States previously succeeded in balancing the influence of Communist Russia on Europe –– creating a strong, democratic, and economically sound Europe, also indebted to US––  a focus on Asia would counterbalance China’s growing reach.

It is essential to realize that America has finite resources, along with problems of its own with citizens. I caution that the United States not develop the budget for this Asian Marshall plan beyond the area that can truly support it. There should be an avoidance of overstretch.

The United States is currently in the vicious cycle of unilateralism. Opposing the notion of cooperation with allies to the notion of independent judgements without consultations is prominent in the Middle Eastern context. We constantly make decisions without proper consultation with some of our most important allies. In fact, we broke our promise of abstaining from the vote regarding Israel as a state to Saudi Arabia. We also did not consult our Middle Eastern allies regarding the change in course of action when we decided to vote for Israel. This resulted in a great deal of mistrust and an oil embargo. In the Middle East, we did not make adequate consultations with our allies; thus, with Asian context, we should make sure that we consult with all of the allies and balance each of their needs against one another. In other words, we must not pick favorites.
This plan would effectively guide America to avoid the vicious cycle of unilateralism. While in the Middle East, battle lines are largely drawn from religious differences, Southeast Asia has relatively moderate and tolerant democracies. If the United States supports and attempts to cement its ties to those Asian countries, tangible economic advantages in both foreign and economic policy could result. With Asia as an emerging market, alliances and access to their resources would be very helpful.