Obama cancels Asia trip as US shutdown continues
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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 due of his budget struggle in the US Congress and said late on Thursday he would not attend regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei.
The standoff over the US budget has shut down non-essential services and appears likely to drag on. Another crisis looms in two weeks when lawmakers must decide whether to increase the US government’s US$16.7 trillion debt borrowing limit.
“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 government,” the White House said.
Obama was scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, among other leaders, at the summits.
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 South China Sea.
“We are disappointed,” said Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring on the island of Bali, host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Monday. “We could hardly imagine he wouldn’t come.”
Obama was also to attend the East Asia Summit, held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Brunei next week.
“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.
Storey said the domestic crisis posed a dilemma for Obama, since it clashed with a cherished foreign policy objective.
At the APEC and East Asia summits two years ago, Obama announced the US strategic pivot — or rebalancing — toward Asia, seen as a reaction to the growing clout of China.
“With government employees on unpaid leave, Obama cannot afford to ... be seen hob-nobbing with world leaders on a tropical island,” said Storey.
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