US President Barack Obama is to use an Asian tour beginning this week to bolster Washington’s alliances in the region at a time of increased geopolitical tension.
Obama is scheduled to visit Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, and will be under duress to address maritime territorial disputes between US allies and China.
Obama aides on Friday said he would restate the US’ staunch support for its friends, underline its role as a Pacific power and seek to reassure the region that his “rebalancing” to Asia strategy is not running out of steam.
The US president is set to travel to Asia on Tuesday, but is likely to remain preoccupied by simmering foreign policy crises elsewhere, especially in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
“The president’s trip to Asia is an important opportunity to underscore our continued focus on the Asia-Pacific region,” US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said.
During his trip, Obama is to emphasize that Washington wants maritime disputes in the South and East China seas settled peacefully, in accordance with the rule of law, Rice said.
Washington does not take a position on the various territorial claims of regional powers, but has in the past angered Beijing by suggesting that these claims should be solved multilaterally.
China prefers to discuss the maritime rows bilaterally with individual nations, probably because this is a more advantageous format for the Asian giant to wield its significant size and influence.
Obama’s trip will be his first to the region since Beijing declared an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea last year, which the US and other nations have branded as illegitimate.
The US president is to begin his fifth official trip to Asia in a state visit to Japan on Wednesday, when he has a private dinner scheduled with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The next day, after an official ceremony at the Imperial Palace and then formal talks, he is to hold a press conference with Abe.
After several engagements during the day, including a meeting with business leaders, Obama is to attend a state dinner hosted by Japanese Emperor Akihito.
In Seoul, Obama is to hold talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye that focus on North Korea’s belligerence. The US president will also attempt to ease tensions between Seoul and Tokyo stoked by territorial spats and wartime grievances.
Deputy US National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama will also address the US-South Korean Combined Forces Command and be briefed on efforts to meet North Korean “provocations.”
Obama is then to travel to Malaysia before heading to the Philippines on April 28 for talks with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
The US president is to hold a joint press conference with Aquino in Manila, be the guest of honor at a state dinner and lay a wreath at the Philippines’ World War II US cemetery.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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