Fresh on the heels of the reelection of US President Barack Obama, the
White House announced that he would visit Burma (Myanmar) as his first foreign
policy initiative at the start of a three-leg tour of Southeast Asia that
covers Thailand and Cambodia on November 17-20.
The itinerary excluded the
Philippines, a longtime strategic security ally of the United States in the
Asia-Pacific region.
The exclusion ruffled sensitive
nationalist feelings in Manila, as officials anxiously waited for signals from
the second Obama administration on what is in store for the Philippines in the
reordering of US foreign policy priorities following the election.
The question that immediately
emerged was: Why Burma, Thailand and Cambodia? These countries in Southeast
Asia are the least threatened by the aggressive pursuit by China of its
hegemonic claim of disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea (South China
Sea), which are also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and
Taiwan.
The Philippines, Vietnam and
Japan (in East Asia) had been in the centre of rising tensions from these
contending claims before the elections.
Filipinos were quick to recall
that during Obama’s first Southeast Asian tour early in his first term, his
itinerary bypassed the Philippines.
As if to rub salt in the wound,
White House officials revealed that Obama returned the calls of a long list of
global leaders, including those of Israel and Egypt, who contacted him to
congratulate him on his reelection.
The US president spoke to the
leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, India,
Turkey, Brazil, Colombia and Nato’s secretary general.
No call from Obama
The Palace said it had not
received calls from the Obama White House, but it emphasised that President
Aquino did not call President Obama and instead sent a congratulatory message
by mail through the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Aquino on Wednesday wrote that he
“looked forward to a deeper cooperation” with the United States in Obama’s
second term.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda
told reporters that Aquino did not call Obama because the latter “was probably
getting too many phone calls.” Lacierda added, “I think the letter is
sufficient.”
According to BBC news, Obama’s
Burma stop is part of the trip built around the summit of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, which leaders from China, Japan and Russia
will also attend.
Obama will meet Burma’s President
Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
White House spokesperson Jay
Carney said President Obama intended to “speak to civil society to encourage
Burma’s ongoing democratic transition.”
Normalising ties
The government of Burma has been
implementing economic, political and other reforms, a process that the Obama
administration has sought to encourage, according to BBC.
The trip “reflects the importance
that the US has placed in normalising relations with Burma. The process has
moved forward relatively swiftly … and it represents an opportunity for the
United States to have a greater stake in the region and so at least counter the
dominant influence of China,” BBC said.
A Burmese government spokesperson
said the “support and encouragement of the US president … will strengthen the
commitment of President Thein Sein’s reform process to move forward without
backtracking”.
Reforms have been taking place in
Burma since elections in November 2010 saw military rule replaced with a
military-backed nominally civilian government, BBC said. Since then, many
political prisoners have been freed and censorship relaxed.
The opposition party led by Suu
Kyi, who was released from house arrest after the elections, has rejoined the
political process after boycotting the 2010 elections. It now has a small
presence in parliament after the April by-elections.
Shedding light on the shifting
foreign policy priorities of the second Obama administration, The New York
Times, in an analysis, wrote that “for reasons of history and political
reality, a reelected Mr. Obama is likely to devote more time to foreign affairs.
From Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, presidents have tended to make their bid
for statesman status in their second terms. The prospect of continuing
gridlock—with the Republicans still controlling the House—gives Mr. Obama all
the more reason to favour diplomacy over domestic legislation”.
New maritime power
Along the same vein, the Asian
Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) wrote that Obama’s reelection would provide him with
little time to celebrate in the face of an array of global problems that
include challenges posed by Iran’s nuclear programme and widening political
instability in the Middle East.
Behind these front-burner
problems, AWSJ said, Obama in his second term, “likely will have to redefine US
policies toward China, in light of its growing economic might and military
power. The president is expected to face renewed challenge from Beijing over
continued arms sales to Taiwan … And many Asian officials fear that the dispute
between Japan and China over an atoll in the East China Sea could escalate further,
forcing Washington—Tokyo’s treaty ally—to a larger role.”
The AWSJ said: “The Obama
administration over the past year has been touting its intention to tilt
Washington’s strategic focus from the Middle East and toward Asia, due to the
region’s economic growth and China’s increasing power.”
The Philippines’ anxieties over
China’s policies on the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea rose as
the Chinese Communist Party began its leadership change at its party congress
that followed the US elections.
Agence France-Presse reported
from Beijing that the speech of outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao at the
party congress referring to the territorial disputes in the South China Sea has
raised concerns among Asian countries that have supported the Obama
administration’s policy to “pivot” to the region as it disentangles from wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Addressing the opening of the
Communist Party’s 18th National Congress, Hu indicated that China would
continue its disputed claims to maritime territories.
He said, “We should enhance our
capacity for exploiting maritime resources, resolutely safeguard China’s
maritime rights and interests and build China into a maritime power.”
Amando Doronila
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment