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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS