Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images
President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Saturday en route to Bangkok, the first leg of his three-nation Asia tour. Obama hopes to demonstrate rising US clout in Asia on his first foreign trip since his re-election, with a tour of three countries including a once unthinkable stop in changing Myanmar.
By NBC News wire services
BANGKOK - President Barack Obama kicked off a three-country Asia tour with a visit to Thailand on Sunday, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the U.S. strategic focus eastwards.?
Obama's schedule was packed with cultural sightseeing, a royal audience with Thailand's king and a private meeting with the country's prime minister, a joint press conference and an official dinner.
But his attention will be divided during his travels as he faces a simmering crisis in the Gaza Strip pitting Israel against Hamas militants and also contends with a looming fiscal crisis at home.?
'Some indications' Hamas-Israeli truce is possible, Egypt says
Obama's itinerary will also include a landmark visit to once-isolated Myanmar and an East Asia summit in Cambodia as he seeks to?re-calibrate?U.S. economic and security commitments to counter China's influence at a time when America is disentangling itself from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.?
Capitol Hill leaders sound optimistic notes after fiscal cliff talks with Obama
'Pacific president'
Flying into Bangkok, Obama was due to tour the iconic Wat Pho Royal Monastery and have a royal audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the hospital where he has been recovering from an illness since September 2009. He will also hold talks and a joint news conference with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.?
Lawmakers, including John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, unite to present Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi with Congress' highest civilian honor in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.
The U.S. administration regards Thailand as a key ally for advancing an "Asia pivot" that Obama announced last year with an eye to an increasingly assertive China. Obama, who was born in Hawaii and spent part of his youth in Indonesia, has called himself America's first "Pacific president."?
Suspicion of US rife as White House contenders batter China
His choice of Southeast Asia for his first foreign trip since winning re-election on November 6 is meant to show he intends to make good on his pledge to boost ties with one of the world's fastest-growing regions, a strategy his aides see as crucial to his presidential legacy. It is his second extensive trek through Asia in little more than a year.?
In the centerpiece of his three-day tour, Obama on Monday will make the first U.S. presidential visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, marking a new milestone in Washington's rapprochement with the former pariah state where a fragile transition is under way after decades of military rule.?
Prisoners freed in Myanmar ahead of Obama visit
Some international human rights groups object to the visit, saying Obama is rewarding the country's quasi-civilian government before democratic reforms are complete.?
Obama aides said the Myanmar trip is meant to lock in progress so far and that he will speak forcefully on the need to do more on human rights, especially to curb sectarian violence.?
He will meet President Thein Sein and famed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who -- like Obama -- is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.?
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
?
Ben Wilson Latest Presidential Polls trump debate presidential debate lance armstrong Iron Man 3
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.