US President Barack Obama was to press leaders from Southeast Asia to boost trade and back common goals for the South China Sea during a summit that started yesterday and which the White House hopes will solidify US influence in the region.
Obama is also to discuss curbing North Korea and plans to fight the Islamic State group during the two-day meeting with ASEAN leaders at Sunnylands, a California resort.
The visit, at the same location where Obama once hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), is designed to demonstrate Washington’s commitment both as a counterweight to Beijing and as an eager trading partner with ASEAN.
It also helps cement a legacy issue for Obama, who has championed a US pivot to Asia during his presidency and is determined to present the US as a Pacific power.
“We want to make very clear that the United States is going to be at the table and a part of setting the agenda in the Asia-Pacific in the decades to come,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters last week.
The first day of the summit is scheduled to focus on economic issues and trade, including discussion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, which includes four ASEAN members: Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia.
Others — including Taiwan, which hopes to join the next round of negotiations — are interested in joining, and the White House wants to make sure the pact goes into effect.
Today, the leaders are to discuss maritime issues, including the South China Sea, where Taiwan, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei have conflicting and overlapping claims.
Rhodes said Obama would deliver a tough message to China that disputes over the area must be resolved peacefully.
“We will continue to underscore the principle that these issues have to be resolved consistent with international norms and not through bigger nations bullying smaller ones,” he said.
The challenge at the summit might be to get all ASEAN members to agree on a strong statement on the issue. Analysts say China has put pressure on nations, such as Cambodia and Laos, not to sign on.
Pressure from Obama, and a message that the US would continue to engage with the group, might counteract that.
“If the ASEAN leaders feel that the United States is investing in ASEAN ... that would encourage even the weakest, the most susceptible ASEAN states to sign on with their brothers to make these statements,” said Ernest Bower, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“No one in Southeast Asia wants the Chinese to run roughshod over their smaller neighbors,” he added.
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