SINGAPORE — Despite signs that President Donald Trump may be more focused on domestic issues, the United States will maintain close ties with South-east Asia as doing so would be beneficial to Washington’s national interests, a senior US diplomat said.

“As the future of South-east Asia is closely connected to the future of US economic and security interests, it makes clear sense for Washington to (continue to) engage the region,” said outgoing Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel during a telephonic press briefing yesterday with journalists from regional media outlets.

He was responding to a question on how committed the US is in terms of developing ties with South-east Asia.

“Looking at the (good) track record of US engagement with Asean (Association of South-east Asian Nations) in the past several years, there’s a powerful case that active engagement in Asean through entities such as the EAS (East Asia Summit) is in the best interests of the US,” Mr Russel added.

He was referring to burgeoning US-Asean ties under the Barack Obama administration where Mr Obama fostered close links with South-east Asian states as part of his “pivot” to Asia strategy.

More recently, however, there has been some concern that the US will disengage not just from South-east Asia, but from the Asia-Pacific region as a whole especially after Mr Trump withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

Mr Russel believes that the US will not withdraw from South-east Asia.

He said Washington’s “active engagement with Asean is not a policy option that reflects the peculiarities of one administration (Mr Obama’s), but a strategic investment that reflects the long-term interests of the US”.

He also noted during the press briefing that strong ties between the US and Asean countries will create “important bridges between both parties that will facilitate trade, investment and cooperation that benefit all concerned”.

Addressing a question on what are the likely broad parameters of Mr Trump’s South-east Asia policy, the outgoing assistant secretary of state noted that the President has placed great emphasis on fighting terrorism and extremism.

He said this is an area where Washington and regional governments could cooperate on as the latter have to deal with threats posed by radical groups like Islamic State.

In addition, Mr Russel observed that Mr Trump, like the littoral states, has expressed concern over the South China Sea disputes, and therein lies a possible avenue for cooperation between Washington and South-east Asia.

Mr Russel will leave his current position as a US State Department official this week and move on to serve as diplomat in residence and senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a think-tank that tackles major policy challenges confronting the Asia-Pacific.