At the same time, no one wants a confrontation with China. Your economies grow more dependent on China every day, as does ours. So you need to know that we will deepen our ties with Asia, through both bilateral and multinational arrangements; that we will remind China of the need to peacefully resolve disputes, but will do so in a calm way which will not trigger Chinese nationalism and paranoia; and that we will not allow China to decide where the United States will conduct naval exercises with our Asian allies.

But I know that what you need from the United States above all is a sound American economy. I wish I could trade the U.S. Congress for some Asian technocrats: The Democrats oppose free trade, and the Republicans oppose fiscal logic. But I'm going to do what I can with what I've got. I'm going to conclude the planned free-trade agreement with South Korea, and then I'm going to challenge the Republicans to prove that they really believe in free trade -- even at a time when Americans are worrying about competition from abroad. I'm going to move on to the next round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will lead to free-trade agreements among Pacific Rim nations. This will require that both we, and you, lower tariffs -- and risk the political costs of doing so.

And yes, America will get its own economic house in order. We will have to rein in entitlement and defense spending, and put an end to the suicidal pandering of endless tax cuts. But as any of you watching our election results know, we're not going to do it any time soon. Sorry.

Leading Asian states aspire to play a larger role in global affairs -- as do emerging powers elsewhere in the globe. The United States welcomes this ambition, as our deepening engagement with the G-20 demonstrates. We have stated our support for Japan's candidacy for the U.N. Security Council. Today, I declare our support for India's candidacy as well. India will soon begin a two-year term on the council; this will give the country the opportunity to show that it sees itself as a responsible stakeholder of the global system. In case I'm being too oblique, blocking council action against malefactors and human rights abusers on the grounds of state sovereignty is a poor way of making your case. It's hard enough dealing with China as a permanent member. Don't make things worse.

Finally, you will surely have been struck by the fact that I haven't said a word about myself -- not my childhood years here in Indonesia, or even that my middle name is "Hussein." The middle name thing, you may have heard, no longer goes over so well at home. But I've also learned something important over the last two years: Biography is not policy. Empathy, respect, even deference -- they're all to the good. But the Palestinians tell me that that if you use a new tone of voice to articulate a familiar policy, it winds up sounding like hypocrisy. And they're not the only ones. Anyway, all that emblematic stuff is for the Middle East. You guys care about substance. Maybe that's what Asian values are all about.

The author would like to thank Evan Feigenbaum of the Eurasia Group, Charles Freeman and Ernest Bower of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment.

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