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.
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