“Given that the Trump administration did not pay enough attention to creating partnerships with like-minded Asian states,” said Aries A. Arugay, chair of the political science department at the University of the Philippines Diliman, “a second Trump presidency would put in jeopardizes the momentum achieved by revitalized US-Philippine relations.”
But Bilahari Kausikan, Singapore’s former top diplomat, warned against equating American values with Asian ones.
“We structure our relationship with the United States much more on the basis of common interests than common values,” he said. “And the people who are very upset by Trump’s perspective, whether in Europe or in the United States, or the people who feel that he doesn’t share his values, we, first of all, don’t share the values, not all of us. . them anyway.”
The verdict against Trump came as India was wrapping up its 44-day election season. Manoj Jha, an opposition politician, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, who is running for a third term, has employed some of the same tactics as Trump by “demonizing a section of his own population.”
“They feed on fear,” Jha said.
In at least one respect – the prosecution of former leaders – the rest of the world is far ahead of the United States. South Korea, where four former presidents have been convicted of corruption and abuse of power, has made it something of a national sport to jail disgraced leaders. Former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac were convicted of corruption.
Jacob Zuma, former president of South Africa, has been accused of money laundering, among other crimes. And Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to years in prison for corruption after leading Brazil. His convictions were eventually overturned. He is once again president of the country.
camille elemia, Choe Sang-Hun, Motoko rich, Alexandra Stevenson, Sui-Lee Wee and Sameer Yasir contributed with reports.