Veteran diplomat Holbrooke renews his Asian affair

In the past 10 days, the Asian economic crisis intensified significantly for one reason and one reason only - the United States started taking it a lot more seriously.

Hot on the heels of an emergency presidential meeting, Defence Secretary William Cohen was despatched to Indonesia, while Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus and IMF first deputy managing director Stanley Fischer all arrived in the region - the most high-powered economic and political delegation to visit Asia since the crisis began.

Mr Cohen stated repeatedly that he was not in Indonesia to talk about economics but about things military - namely the United States' strategic position in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Mr Camdessus stood over Indonesian President Suharto while he signed a document, which meant the proud president of 32 years had to revise his own budget and disenfranchise his own family.

Mr Suharto would have had to have been both blind and stupid not to have got the message - the US is not messing any more.

The US is bankrolling efforts to drag the region out of the economic mess it got itself into and, like any creditor, it feels justified in making certain demands upon its debtors.

These demands are likely to be issues such as widening economic liberalisation, increasing political pluralism and moves to eradicate human rights abuses.