Obama - Japan

US president kicks off Asia tour

Article published on the 2009-11-13 Latest update 2009-11-13 10:47 TU

Obama in talks with Hatoyama
(Photo: Reuters)

US President Barack Obama has arrived in Japan at the start of a week-long tour of Asia. The trip aims to counter rumours that the US is losing influence to China in the world's most populous region.

Obama is looking to strengthen ties with Japan’s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama while dampening a row over the relocation of a US military base on Okinawa.

Hatoyama has said that he may scrap an unpopular plan to build a new US base on the island.

Obama moves next to the Asia Pacific Cooperation forum in Singapore where he will attend the first-ever joint meeting of a US president and leaders of all ten members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, Asean.

Ahead of the meeting, Obama said he wanted to try to tackle imbalances in global growth, in which Asia relies too heavily on exports, and the US too much on spending.

The President then moves to China and the three-day centrepiece of his tour, with global security and trade and currency differences will top the agenda. He is also expected to raise the issue of human rights, after declining to meet Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before he had visited Beijing.

The trip wraps in South Korea, with Obama arriving on 18 November before talks with President Lee Myung-Bak on North Korea.

Before the tour the White House was keen to stress that Obama, who grew up in Hawaii and spent a number of childhood years in Indonesia, is familiar with the region and shares an Asian worldview on some issues.