NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged Friday to deepen US bonds with Asia in order to tackle the global economic crisis and climate change as well as prevent nuclear proliferation. On the eve of her tour of Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China, her first foreign trip, Clinton said in a speech she is "ready to deliver a message about America's desire for more rigorous and persistent commitment and engagement." She added she is "ready to work with leaders in Asia to resolve the economic crisis and to strengthen our historic partnerships and alliances while developing deeper bonds with all nations." In her first foreign policy speech, which she delivered before the Asia Society, a non-profit educational institution, Clinton said she also is "ready to help prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Asia." Clinton added that North Korea's nuclear program remains "the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia." She said President Barack Obama's administration would build a strong relationship with the reclusive Stalinist regime if it scraps its nuclear program, which alarmed the world in 2006 with the test of a nuclear device.
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