US President Barack Obama left on his debut presidential tour of Asia yesterday, seeking to revive the US' prestige as a regional power, on a trip much heavier on symbolism than diplomatic substance.
Obama will take a precious week out of his bid to enact an ambitious domestic agenda to show the region and a rising China that Washington is no longer distracted by crises elsewhere.
He will travel first to Japan for talks today with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, then attend the weekend's APEC summit in Singapore and become the first US president to sit down with all 10 leaders of ASEAN, including Myanmar.
Obama will next visit Shanghai and fly to Beijing for a state dinner and talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), then wrap up his tour in South Korea.
“It's a common perception in the region that US influence has been on the decline in the last decade, while Chinese influence has been increasing,” said Obama's top East Asia aide, Jeffrey Bader. “One of the messages that the president will be sending in his visit is that we are an Asia-Pacific nation and we are there for the long haul.”
The White House is stressing that Obama, who grew up in Hawaii and spent a number of childhood years in Indonesia, is familiar, and to some extent shares an Asian worldview on some issues.
Aides always try to leverage the president's intriguing personal story and political charisma abroad, to court locals over the heads of their leaders.
Obama will stress engagement and hopes for cooperation on national security, climate change and economic issues.
However, tangible results may have to wait.
Many Asian nations want Obama to reignite global trade talks, and South Korea wants action on a bilateral trade pact.
As he pushes historic reform drives like health care, however, Obama lacks the political sway to dictate trade policy to Congress and with unemployment topping 10 percent, the threat from Asian economies looms large.
Significant breakthroughs are not expected on global warming in Obama's talks with Hu. China and the US are considered vital to fading hopes of a deal at UN climate talks in Copenhagen next month.
Obama and Hatoyama will discuss a row over the relocation of a US military base on Okinawa and Obama will make a major address in Tokyo tomorrow.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
NO CHANGES: A Japanese spokesperson said that Tokyo remains consistent and open for dialogue, while Beijing has canceled diplomatic engagements A Japanese official blasted China’s claims that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has altered Japan’s position on a Taiwan crisis as “entirely baseless,” calling for more dialogue to stop ties between Asia’s top economies from spiraling. China vowed to take resolute self-defense against Japan if it “dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait” in a letter delivered Friday to the UN. “I’m aware of this letter,” said Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokeswoman. “The claim our country has altered its position is entirely baseless,” she said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Chinese Ministry
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