By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
South Korea will benefit from increasing its foreign aid and playing a more active role in the regional and international community, U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain's foreign policy advisor observed Thursday.
In a speech at the National Assembly, Michael J. Green, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based in Washington D.C., said Korea can also play a role in helping China improve its transparency.
``Korea will host a conference of the Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership next month, and I think that this is an opportunity to show Korea's efforts to strengthen its soft power by helping transitional democracies in Asia such as Indonesia and Mongolia,'' he said.
Green said Korea's efforts and contributions to move regional and international agendas forward will help the government become a more influential player.
McCain's advisor was asked to speak by the National Assembly's Asian Culture and Economy Forum led by Rep. Park Jin of the governing Grand National Party.
Park said he invited Green to share his insights and views on the presidential election and the next U.S. government's policy toward Asia.
Green encouraged National Assemblymen to work closely together with both McCain and Obama camp foreign policy advisors to build solid network before the election.
He said the next U.S. president will consider expanding the alliance with Korea not only in security but also in other areas that include soft power under what he called a full spectrum Korea-U.S. alliance.
Green observed there were four variables to watch over the next 40 days until the U.S. election _ presidential debates; external factors such as financial and foreign policy crises; race; and the youth vote.
``If there is a foreign policy crisis such as Russia invading Georgia or the North Korean nuclear program, McCain gets a bump up,'' he said.
Political analysts say a lack of foreign policy experience is one of the major weaknesses of Democratic Senator Obama as a presidential candidate.
``Foreign policy issues like the North Korean nuclear program can move the polls by 5 to 10 percentage points,'' he said.
Green said Obama had momentum after the United States economy was hit hard by the financial meltdown.
``In this U.S. presidential election, the ground is strongly in favor of the Democratic presidential candidate,'' he said. ``If this were a World Cup Soccer game, it will be like John McCain plays against Senator Obama.''
Green offered his insight into the so-called Palin effect, saying, ``Until the financial crisis, McCain had momentum probably because of his pick of Sarah Palin as a Republican vice presidential candidate.''
He said the Obaman campaign was trying to link U.S. President George W. Bush, who now has support of about 30 percent, to McCain.
``McCain broke that link by choosing Palin because people perceive that she is a reformer and outsider,'' Green said, calling McCain's pick of Palin a ``smart choice.''