Obama in Asia: Focus on Japan and China

Amercians are now after Japan and China for saving its ever-sliding capitalism. At a time of uncertainty in relations with America's old Asian ally Japan over foreign policy and US military base, US President Barack Obama landed on 13 Nov in Tokyo, the first stop on his four-nation Asian seven day tour on November 13-19 and met Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. In Japan, Obama, named the world's most powerful person by Forbes magazine, discussed U.S. ties in the region on security concerns listed as " the global economic recovery, climate change, nuclear proliferation, extremism" and its plans for increased engagement in regional groupings, such as APEC. His eight-day tour will also take him to Singapore, China and South Korea and includes an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit. In China, the main focus of the Asia visit, Obama will talk about China more during his visit to Shanghai and Beijing for four days and his speech will address U.S.-Chinese relations.

Obama's first Asian tour as US leader is aimed at boosting economic growth and reassuring key allies. Climate change issues, the NATO terror war in occupied Afghanistan and the global downturn featured prominently in the bilateral talks in Tokyo. Japan's new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, which ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democrats in a landslide victory earlier this year, wants to reposition Japan's standing in the traditionally close US-Japanese relationship, aspiring to a more 'equal' partnership- a demand of new Russia with USA but could not be materialized. The future of a US military base on Okinawa, which is highly unpopular among the island's residents, is a bone of contention. With Hatoyama, Obama has signaled he wants closer ties with Asia and he opposes plans to relocate a US base on Okinawa. Yukio Hatoyama has promised to end Japan's Indian Ocean refueling mission that supports US-led forces in Afghanistan. He also promised to review the Okinawa base agreement that Washington thought was settled three years ago.

US President and Japanese Prime Minister have agreed on the need to renew their two countries' strained alliance. Hatoyama confirmed Japan would no longer refuel ships that supply forces in Afghanistan but promised an "alternative package", which would involve civilian aid in areas such as schooling, agriculture and police. On the dispute with the US over plans to keep a US air base on the island of Okinawa, albeit in a different location, he said only that the base was a "difficult issue". Washington thought the issue was settled three years ago but Hatoyama, who came to power this year, has said he wants to review the agreement reached. Obama said the US and Japan would work quickly to resolve the dispute.

Hatoyama stressed that the Japanese-US alliance was a "cornerstone of Japan's diplomacy". Obama and Hatoyama, pledged to revitalize their strained security alliance as they adapt to a rising China, set to overtake Japan as the world's No. 2 economy soon. But they left unresolved a feud over a U.S. military base on Japan's southern Okinawa Island that has frayed Washington's ties with Hatoyama's government, which has pledged to steer a diplomatic course less dependent on its ally and forge closer relations with Asia. 

Japanese peace activists have criticized Obama for not taking time to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Obama said he would visit the sites of the atomic bomb attacks on another occasion. Japan has deployed about 16,000 police officers to provide security in Tokyo during the visit, which is expected to see further demonstrations. Most of the 47,000 US soldiers in Japan are based on the island. The US military favours Okinawa as it is closer to China and Taiwan. The US governed the island directly for nearly 30 years after World War II. The US wants to move its airbase at Futenma away from residential areas to another location on the island. Pollution from the US bases has angered local people. A number of sexual assaults by US servicemen on Japanese civilians and accidents involving military hardware have fuelled opposition to the bases. Japan's new PM has suggested moving Futenma off the island completely.

In his fifth major foreign address of Obama's 10-month presidency, continuing the sharp break with the unilateral approach that marked international relations under the Bush administration, in the speech to 1,500 prominent Japanese in a soaring downtown Tokyo concert hall on 14 Nov, Obama reaffirmed the strength of Washington's alliance with Japan. Obama reached out through several personal notes that delighted his audience, including calling himself "America's first Pacific president," referring to his time in Indonesia, birth in Hawaii and travels in Asia as a boy. Obama was quick to spurn North Korea's nuclear belligerence, warning Pyongyang that the U.S. and its Asian partners would "not be cowed" by the isolated dictatorship's nuclear tests and missile launches, although he let the fascist Israel to cow him and in a way, kick his presidency. Obama has asked NK to stop building nuclear weapons and scrapped those already believed to be in its arsenal. President Obama also welcomed China's efforts to play a greater role on the world stage, a role in which “their growing economy is joined by growing responsibility".

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After a luncheon with the Japanese emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, who have just celebrated 20 years on the throne, Obama headed to Singapore for an APEC. In Singapore, Obama will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in an effort to revitalize U.S. engagement in the region's multilateral institutions.

President Obama meets Russian president Medvedev on the APEC sidelines. Both are expected to continue work on a treaty to replace the START II nuclear agreement that expires Dec. 5. Both leaders have pledge to reach a new pact before year's end. Administration officials said the two men also would be discussing attempts to curb not only North Korea's nuclear program but blunting Iran's perceived ambitions to build an atomic bomb. In Singapore, Obama also will become the first U.S. president to sit in on the ASEAN 10 meeting that will include the leader of a brutal regime in Myanmar. The Obama administration has recently unveiled a new policy of directly engaging the leadership of Myanmar, also known as Burma, while keeping in force punishing sanctions that so far have failed to convince Rangoon to ease its heavy-handed and repressive methods. Key to any lifting of sanctions would be the release of all political prisoners.

USA is increasingly turning to China for shielding its own economy from further recessions. Barack Obama maintained China is a "partner" as well as rival but warned of "enormous strains" in relations between the world's two most powerful nations if economic imbalances between them were not corrected. While Obama will push for increased Chinese co-operation in containing Iran and North Korea, his real challenge will be to allay the concerns of his non-Chinese hosts about the rise of Beijing's power in the region.

China will soon overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy. Even while in Japan, Obama was always made positive references of China, the today’s American bank. Obama hopes to discuss a revaluation of the Chinese currency. Applauding Beijing's robust strides as a burgeoning economic engine, he said China was a "partner" as well as rival but warned of "enormous strains" in relations between the world's two most powerful nations if economic imbalances between them were not corrected. He is also set to discuss opening Chinese markets further to US goods and encouraging Chinese consumers to spend more.

The import growth may reinforce U.S. concerns that China's currency is undervalued against the dollar, which U.S. manufacturers say gives Chinese companies an unfair trade advantage. Fresh government figures on the U.S. trade deficit could add urgency to Obama's efforts to seek greater export opportunities in China and other Asian countries. America's trade gap ballooned in September by 18.2 percent to $36.5 billion. It was the largest monthly increase in more than 10 years and was driven both by higher oil prices and a surge in imports from China.

China's growing economic and military power and its effect on relations with Washington are also concerns for some Japanese. Three days of the tour are being devoted to the Chinese leg during which Obama hopes to discuss a revaluation of the Chinese currency. He is also set to discuss opening Chinese markets further to US goods and encouraging Chinese consumers to spend more. Meanwhile, China signaled that it might allow an appreciation of the Yuan.  He will try to capitalise on this as he seeks to build on and improve crucial relationships with allies and rivals across the Pacific.

Obama stopped off in Alaska on his way, touching down at Elmendorf Air Force Base where he spoke to a military audience about his strategy in Afghanistan. "I will not risk your lives unless it is necessary to America's vital interests," he told troops. The US administration has been locked in an intense debate over a request from the American commander in Afghanistan for thousands of extra troops amid doubts over the competence and integrity of the Afghan government. No decision on the surge request is expected during Obama's visit to Asia

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US influence in Asia is at risk without a more active role in such organizations. There have been pressures on US president that he must express his commitment to free trade and follow up with actions on pending bilateral, multilateral, and global trade agreements. exclusion of the United States from many of the region's most relevant financial institutions and preferential trade agreements that could put U.S. companies at a disadvantage over time. There have been growing concerns in the rest of the world, including Asia, on rising trade protectionism in the USA. the US role in Asia will become less relevant economically unless it keeps its markets open and pushes back trade protectionism. U.S. alliances with South Korea, Japan, and Australia largely keep the peace in the region. Even China, which periodically complains about these alliances, benefits from the regional stability they provide.

A new world order is emerging fast in Asia as the region outgrows decades of American/Western supremacy and the Obama visit is the beginning of a battle to keep the US relevant in the turbulent years of change that lie ahead. Obama's first Asian tour as US leader is aimed at reassuring key allies and boosting economic growth. The trip is also the president's Asian charm offensive as the glitz starts to fade from the year's fashion for the so-called Obama-mania. He has called for a global growth strategy "that is both balanced and broadly shared". Knowing Asia as the potential hub of economic power, US president has chosen to concentrate on Japan and China. Obama said the USA has high expectations for closer ties with economic giant China. The US president outlined a possible future of economic opportunity and greater global integration, but warned China that "this respect cannot be earned through belligerence."  But Obama stressed when it comes to national security, China is a major concern and a destabilizing factor for the Japan-U.S. alliance.

In new Asia, the USA, a fast declining capitalist nation, risks eventual marginalisation unless it more actively seeks to shape a new regional economic and political order and hnce Obama is Asia, but has evaded not only terror India, the newly aquaired terror ally in South Asia and a former Bushdom ally Pakistan as well as other nations in the reigon. Obama is focused on economic giants in the region and said Washington would work hard to strengthen alliances in Asia, such as those with Japan and South Korea, build on newer ones with nations like China and Indonesia, and increase its participation with a growing number of Asian multilateral organizations. Acknowledging Asia's growing power and regional perceptions of America's parallel decline, Obama aides, however, said Obama's Asia sojourn was not designed to reap specific agreements but to show that the U.S. remained very much in the Asian game. USA seems to make top-priority American issues such as creating jobs, a cleaner environment and preventing dangerous weapons proliferation.

US economists believe Asia is obviously the fastest growing economic region in the world. President Obama pressed on with his mission to repair America's global standing, telling Asians he was determined to engage them as equal partners in the economy, diplomacy and security. For own economy, USA supports millions of jobs, a huge amount of our trade.  Obama spent several years in Indonesia as a child and is seen as the first president with an "Asia-Pacific orientation. His message is that the US is back as a player on the region's diplomatic chess board. However, the recent setback for his diplomatic efforts in Mideast has cast a bad shadow over his administration’s ability, albeit temporarily, to make fascist Israel see reason to behave better in the fast changing global scenario.  

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Specialist on State Terrorism

Independent Columnist in International Affairs, Research Scholar (JNU) & the only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.