Kuala Lumpur: Though busy handling hot spots like Ukraine and the Middle East, the US has not "sidelined" its strategy of rebalance in the Asia-Pacific, President Barack Obama today assured jittery Asian leaders amid muscle flexing by an increasingly assertive China.
"Though we`ve been busy at home, the crisis still confronts us in other parts of the world from the Middle East to Ukraine. But I want to be very clear. Let me be clear about this, because some people have wondered whether because of what happens in Ukraine or what happens in the Middle East, whether this will sideline our strategy -- it has not.
"We are focused and we`re going to follow through on our interest in promoting a strong US-Asia relationship," Obama said at a town hall meeting with young leaders from Southeast Asia in Malaysia.
Obama`s visit to the region is a personal manifestation of the foreign policy "pivot" to Asia his administration enunciated two years ago but has struggled to translate in concrete terms.
Obama, whose three-day visit to the South East Asian country comes in nearly five decades by a US President, noted that America has responsibilities all around the world, and said: "We`re glad to embrace those responsibilities."
"And, yes, sometimes we have a political system of our own and it can be easy to lose sight of the long view. But we have been moving forward on our rebalance to this part of the world by opening ties of commerce and negotiating our most ambitious trade agreement; by increasing our defense and educational exchange cooperation, and modernising our alliances... Building deeper partnerships with emerging powers like Indonesia and Vietnam.
He noted that the 10 nations that make up ASEAN are home to nearly one in 10 of the world`s citizens.
"And when you put those countries together, you`re the seventh largest economy in the world, the fourth largest market for American exports, the number-one destination for American investment in Asia," Obama said.
Obama said he believed that together "we can make the Asia Pacific more secure."
"America has the strongest military in the world, but we don`t seek conflict; we seek to keep the peace. We want a future where disputes are resolved peacefully and where bigger nations don`t bully smaller nations," the US President said.
"All nations are equal in the eyes of international law. We want to deepen our cooperation with other nations on issues like counterterrorism and piracy, but also humanitarian aid and disaster relief... We want to do that together," Obama said.
He said the US wanted to cooperate with our old allies and our emerging partners, and with China.
"We want to see a peaceful rise for China, because we think it can and should contribute to the stability and prosperity that we all seek," Obama said.
"So that`s the shared future I want to see in the Asia Pacific. Now, America cannot impose that future. It`s one we need to build together, in partnership, with all the nations and peoples of the region, especially young people. That vision is within our reach if we`re willing to work for it," he said.
Obama noted that sometimes the United States is viewed as, on the one hand, the cause of everybody`s problem, or on the other hand, the United States is expected to solve everybody`s problem.
"And we are a big, powerful nation and we take our responsibilities very seriously, but we can only do so much," he said.
"Ultimately, the people in these countries themselves have to partner with us -- because we have problems in our own country that we have to solve. But hopefully, I`m also lifting up certain universal principles and ideals that all of us can embrace and share," he said.
Malaysia is the third stop on an Asian tour by Obama that has taken him to Japan and South Korea. He heads to the Philippines on tomorrow.
Interestingly, each of the four countries on Obama`s itinerary has a dispute with Beijing over islands and waters in the strategic South and East China Seas.
Ahead of his trip, analysts said Obama faced a delicate balancing act, reasserting America`s commitment to the region and the importance of its security relationships without feeding China`s concerns that Washington`s actual policy is not engagement but containment.
