U.S. President cancelled yesterday its visits to Malaysia and the Phillipines. And later it also announced it was
cancelling Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Bali on Tuesday and the ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summit next Thursday in Brunei.
That leaves Chinese President Xi Jinping to bask, unrivalled, in center stage glow. As if any extra Stateside "help" was needed, and as if Xi was not already on a roll.
On Thursday, Xi became the first foreign leader ever to address the Indonesian parliament in Jakarta. He stressed that Beijing wanted by all means to boost trade with ASEAN to a whopping US$1 trillion by 2020 - and establish a regional infrastructure bank.
After upstaging Obama in Indonesia (hefty tomes could be penned about that), and signing the requisite $30 billion-plus deals (mostly in mining), Xi was off to Malaysia.
And in Malaysia, Obama would have pushed harder for the already infamous Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - essentially a corporate racket that is a great deal for US multinationals but not exactly for Asian interests. TPP is the American answer to China boosting its already massive business ties all over Asia.
Compare Xi's Indonesian triumph - complete with his glamorous wife Peng Liyuan wearing batik - to a recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, for all practical purposes, wanted to convince the Indonesians to essentially encircle China. Elaborately polite as usual, the Indonesians brushed Abe aside. China is Indonesia's biggest trading partner after Japan, and it's bound to overtake Tokyo soon.
Beijing has already agreed to discuss a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea with ASEAN. A working group met last month in Suzhou.
Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad has seen TPP - which excludes China - for what it is, and he's absolutely not convinced TPP will allow Malaysia easier access to the American market.
The top cheerleader of the US pivoting is Japan - and Japan is widely regarded, in different shades of gray all across Southeast Asia, as a US puppet. What is certain is that the Obama no-show only reinforces the predominant perception that current US foreign policy is an absolute mess. And that while the US does shutdowns, China does business.
Source: atimes
cancelling Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Bali on Tuesday and the ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) and East Asia summit next Thursday in Brunei.
That leaves Chinese President Xi Jinping to bask, unrivalled, in center stage glow. As if any extra Stateside "help" was needed, and as if Xi was not already on a roll.
On Thursday, Xi became the first foreign leader ever to address the Indonesian parliament in Jakarta. He stressed that Beijing wanted by all means to boost trade with ASEAN to a whopping US$1 trillion by 2020 - and establish a regional infrastructure bank.
After upstaging Obama in Indonesia (hefty tomes could be penned about that), and signing the requisite $30 billion-plus deals (mostly in mining), Xi was off to Malaysia.
And in Malaysia, Obama would have pushed harder for the already infamous Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - essentially a corporate racket that is a great deal for US multinationals but not exactly for Asian interests. TPP is the American answer to China boosting its already massive business ties all over Asia.
Compare Xi's Indonesian triumph - complete with his glamorous wife Peng Liyuan wearing batik - to a recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, for all practical purposes, wanted to convince the Indonesians to essentially encircle China. Elaborately polite as usual, the Indonesians brushed Abe aside. China is Indonesia's biggest trading partner after Japan, and it's bound to overtake Tokyo soon.
Beijing has already agreed to discuss a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea with ASEAN. A working group met last month in Suzhou.
Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad has seen TPP - which excludes China - for what it is, and he's absolutely not convinced TPP will allow Malaysia easier access to the American market.
The top cheerleader of the US pivoting is Japan - and Japan is widely regarded, in different shades of gray all across Southeast Asia, as a US puppet. What is certain is that the Obama no-show only reinforces the predominant perception that current US foreign policy is an absolute mess. And that while the US does shutdowns, China does business.
Source: atimes
