Washington, November 20: Barack Obama’s first trip to Asia, which ended yesterday, has underscored two related truths about America and its 44th president.
In his foreign dealings Mr Obama is long on charm and reason but – thus far at least – short on concrete results. And people don’t listen to the United States like they used to.
To be fair, spectacular results were never expected from his eight-day visit that took in Japan, an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore, China and South Korea. Mr Obama, who was born in Hawaii and spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, has described himself as “America’s first Pacific president”. But the reality is that relations between the US and the two largest Asian pacific powers are in a state of flux.
A more assertive government in Japan, for decades comfortable under the American security umbrella, is at odds with Washington over the relocation of a Marine base on Okinawa. In China, his most important stop, leaders of the emerging colossus showed they were in no mood to listen to lectures on human rights or the management of its economy.
–Agencies