SYDNEY: The United States has neglected Asia-Pacific and Australia since Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took office, former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said in an interview with The Australian newspaper on Friday.

Mr Armitage said Ms Rice had placed too much emphasis on other parts of the world and not enough on the Asia-Pacific region.

In more than a year in the job, Ms Rice has visited 59 countries, but only one in Southeast Asia, Thailand, and that for less than 24 hours, the paper said.

Mr Armitage, deputy secretary of state to Colin Powell during President George Bush’s first term, said Ms Rice had also made a ‘gross error’ by skipping the Association of South East Asian Nations forum in Malaysia in December.

Asked whether he agreed that Ms Rice had placed too much focus on events across the Atlantic and not enough in the Pacific, Mr Armitage said: “Yes, I would.”

He criticised Ms Rice, who is due here later this month for security talks also including Japan, for twice cancelling visits to Australia.

“Twice failing to travel to Australia after scheduling to do it — combined with the fact in Australia we don’t even have an ambassador — leads me to the conclusion that we have been distracted,” he said.

The post of US ambassador to Australia has been vacant for more than a year.

“I would be apoplectic if I was still in the Department of State that this had happened,” Mr Armitage, who runs his own consultancy firm, said.

“It kind of shows a more lackadaisical attitude than I think is warranted because we do have a close relationship.”

Mr Armitage said Ms Rice needed to go to Australia ‘so she can hear from both Japan through Foreign Minister (Taro) Aso and from (Foreign Minister) Alexander (Downer) about just exactly what’s going on and how the region is changing.”

“The geo-strategic centre of the world — whether you are talking in demographics, talking in size of military or whether talking in size of economies — it’s shifting to Asia,” he said.

In January Ms Rice cancelled a visit to Australia and Indonesia so she could monitor events in the Middle East from Washington after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke.

“I found it nothing to stop the trip for,” Mr Armitage said.

Ms Rice had also been due to visit the southern city of Adelaide, along with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in November for an international climate meeting. The meeting was later postponed until January. —AFP