US President Barack Obama called off plans to visit Asia and attend two summits because of the US government shutdown, raising questions about the strategic “pivot” to the region that he announced just two years ago.
Obama had planned to depart today for a four-nation, week-long trip. He canceled visits to Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this week because of his budget struggle in the US Congress and said on Thursday he would not attend the regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei.
The political standoff over the US budget has shut down non-essential government services and appeared likely to drag on for another week or longer. Another crisis looms in two weeks when lawmakers must decide whether to increase the US government’s US$16.7 trillion debt borrowing limit.
Photo: AFP
“The president made this decision based on the difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown, and his determination to continue pressing his case that Republicans should immediately allow a vote to reopen the government,” the White House said.
Obama was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, among other leaders.
Two of his main aims would have been to discuss the Syria crisis with Putin and to hold talks on a maritime code of conduct for disputed territories in the oil and gas-rich South China Sea.
“We are disappointed,” Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said on the island of Bali, host of the APEC summit starting tomorrow.
“I think the summit will go on, there is a long-term plan, [but] without Obama, you can imagine how disappointed we are. We could hardly imagine he wouldn’t come,” he said.
Obama was also scheduled to attend ASEAN’s East Asia Summit in Brunei next week.
Xi, who was on a visit to Malaysia yesterday, did not comment on Obama’s decision. However, analysts said the no-show by Obama would work to China’s advantage.
“While his decision is perfectly understandable, it projects a poor image of America as a country that is politically dysfunctional and on the verge of another economic crisis,” said Ian Storey, senior fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. “Meanwhile, cash-rich and self-confident China will have the floor to itself.”
Obama twice postponed visits to Indonesia and Australia in 2010, because of a health reform bill and then because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. He was absent from the APEC meeting last year in Vladivostok, Russia, because of a Democratic Party convention.
In Tokyo, Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said Abe would attend the summits as planned.
“This is a domestic problem of the United States,” he said. “We hope the [Obama] administration and Congress negotiate earnestly to solve the problem as early as possible, so that the problem won’t be affecting various issues.”
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS