US rebalance must strengthen ties with the whole of Asia

US President Barack Obama's recent visit to India may signify that South Asia is, like Southeast Asia, finally getting some well-deserved US attention as part of the so-called American rebalance - or what was once known as the "pivot" - to Asia. That's a welcome change as America wakes up to the fact that there is more to Asia than China, and that an Asian strategy is more than a grab bag of programmes seeking to match China's efforts. That said, the trip may well also have been intended as a message to China.

Yet, in his State of the Union address, Obama gave short shrift to Asia, while proclaiming past successes and outlining an agenda for further improving the US economy.

Pointedly, he chose not to use his 70-minute annual address to explain what can be a critical part of his economic agenda - increased engagement and strengthened trade relations with the entire Asia-Pacific region, including nations such as India that rarely make US headlines. Too often, East Asia alone - and reactions to China - have seemed the predominant focus of the US pivot.

Now, fresh from India, Obama has a real opportunity for expanded engagement, as ties improve between the US, the world's oldest democracy, and India, the world's largest.

With the International Monetary Fund expecting India's economy to grow by 6.3 per cent this year and 6.5 per cent next year, outpacing China's growth, there is good reason for the US pivot to head to India. These figures will grow if reforms take hold there.

But India should only be a part of a comprehensive US engagement with an Asia-Pacific region that is wary of China's assertiveness, particularly in the South China Sea.