United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said Thursday that the United States is committed to the Asia-Pacific region and "rebalancing" toward the region will remain a cornerstone" of US policy.

"The United States has made a long-term commitment to the region. No matter what crisis emerges next, re-balancing toward the region will remain a cornerstone of this administration's foreign policy," she said in a speech on America's Economic Future in the Asia-Pacific at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC.

Pritzker listed what she said are three pillars of a strategic framework to help achieve the economic goals of rebalancing: Commercial diplomacy to strengthen US partnerships, necessary infrastructure to help emerging Asian economies to enter into the global trade and investment system, and regional mechanisms like TPP, APEC, and ASEAN.

To expand prosperity through deepening US trade and investment ties with partners, Pritzker said multilateral parties need to build both hard and soft infrastructure for the growth of US emerging partners in the 21st century. "And it entails building new mechanisms ... to establish a level playing field for commerce across the entire Asia-Pacific region," she said.

Pritzker said that as home to nearly 60 percent of global GDP and the world's fastest growing economies with half of the world's population, the Asia-Pacific region provides tremendous opportunity for US businesses.

China remains one of the biggest permanent markets for US products, Pritzker said, adding that the importance of the Chinese market to US businesses will only grow.

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(China Daily USA 04/18/2014 page2)