Sunday, April 27, 2014
From Print Edition
KUALA LUMPUR: Barack Obama on Saturday became the first sitting US president in nearly 50 years to visit moderate-Muslim Malaysia, where he quickly expressed solidarity with his hosts over the mystery of missing flight MH370.
Obama touched down on the third leg of a four nation Asia tour designed to showcase his "rebalance" of US resources to the dynamic region, but which has been repeatedly interrupted by foreign policy crises from Ukraine to the Middle East.
Obama arrived on what is his first-ever visit to Malaysia with the country under uncomfortable scrutiny over its handling of tragedy over the airliner which vanished on March 8 with 239 people aboard. Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Obama told him he knows "it is a tough, long, road ahead".
"We'll work together. There is always support," Hishammuddin said the US leader told him at a humid arrival ceremony under grey skies punctuated with a crashing formal field gun salute. "I'm very happy to hear (this) because it is a long journey." Obama's tour reaffirms his view that the United States is a key Pacific power in a region where US allies are discomforted by the rise of China and where maritime tensions have disrupted years of relative calm between nations.
But he has one eye elsewhere, notably on the deepening standoff with Russia over Ukraine. Late on Friday, Obama convened a conference call with EU leaders which resulted in a G7 statement that new sanctions against Moscow could be unveiled as early as Monday.
Obama has also been forced to address the potential threat of a new nuclear weapons test by North Korea and his administration's crumbling effort to forge Middle East peace.
He also had tough words for Pyongyang on Saturday, telling cheering US troops in Seoul that the North's iron rule and belligerent threats were signs of weakness. He bemoaned a "pariah state that would rather starve its people than feed their hopes and dreams". US ties with economically successful, Malaysia have vastly improved after years of anti-US antagonism under former leader Mahathir Mohamad.
Washington sees Malaysia as a pivotal player in Southeast Asia, and talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak will concentrate on increasing convergence in trade, security cooperation and intelligence-sharing.
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