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WASHINGTON: Barack Obama leaves on his debut presidential tour of Asia on Thursday seeking to revive America's 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 on Friday with 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 President Hu Jintao, 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.
Obama aides say the previous Bush administration saw ties with Asia through the prism of their global war on terror, and neglected its Asian relationships.
As China expanded its clout, US influence suffered from the spending and borrowing binge that triggered the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
Yet for all the talk of a diminished role, Washington remains a player. The United States is a guarantor of Asian security, with a combined 75,000 troops in South Korea and Japan, and the Seventh Fleet prowling regional waters.
While the dollar is humbled and the US economy wounded, a consumer-led American recovery would revive vast export markets for Asian nations.
The Obama factor could also come into play on the trip. 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, on his first overseas mission since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, will stress engagement and hopes for cooperation on national security, climate change and economic issues.
But 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.
But as he pushes historic reform drives like healthcare, Obama lacks the political sway to dictate trade policy to Congress and with unemployment topping 10 per cent, the threat from Asian economies looms large.
Significant breakthroughs are not expected on global warming in Obama's talks with Hu. China and the United States are considered vital to fading hopes of a deal at UN climate talks in Copenhagen next month.
Shadowing Obama throughout the trip will be his looming decision on whether to deploy thousands more US troops to Afghanistan – he held his latest war council on the issue in the White House on Wednesday.
Obama wants to cement ties with new Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama and draw similarities between their respective crusades for political change.
They will also discuss a row over the relocation of a US military base on Okinawa and Obama will make a major address in Tokyo on Saturday.
He will then debut at the Asia Pacific Cooperation forum summit in Singapore, and attend the first-ever joint meeting of a US president and leaders of all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
After years of attempts to isolate Myanmar over its suppression of democracy, Washington is now engaging the junta, but a private Obama meeting with Prime Minister Thein Sein is unlikely.
It is a measure of China's rising influence that Obama's talks in Beijing will range over global questions including North Korea, Iran's nuclear programme and Afghanistan.
Obama will hold a town hall meeting in Shanghai on Monday, before flying to Beijing ahead of formal talks and a state dinner on Tuesday.
He will also raise human rights, after declining to meet Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before he had visited Beijing.
Finally, Obama will reach South Korea on November 18 for talks with President Lee Myung-Bak on North Korea, climate change and trade.
- AFP/so
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