Obama's China tour to operationalize co-op agenda: analyst

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-12 17:08

WASHINGTON: During US President Barack Obama's visit to China next week, the two countries need to operationalize what they have reached in the past months on developing a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship, a US analyst said.

"This is a very important visit both for the United States and China, and for President Obama personally, who has never been to China before. And this is really an opportunity for him to see China with his own eyes and to understand China's accomplishments and also understand its history," Bonnie Glaser, senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview with Xinhua.

According to Glaser, since Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao met in London this April and agreed to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship, the two nations have set a very broad agenda for cooperation, so now it was time to "operationalize the agenda" and identify areas where both countries could cooperate.

US-JAPAN ALLIANCE

Japan is the first stop on Obama's Asia tour. Washington views the US-Japan alliance as the cornerstone of US security interests in Asia.

Commenting on a recent statement by Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who claimed Japan intended to build "an equal relationship with the United States," Glaser said the statement did not necessarily mean that Hatoyama wanted a closer relationship with China than with the United States.

"I think subsequent statements made by the prime minister have reaffirmed the central importance of the US-Japan alliance in Japanese foreign policy. I also think that the United States has made statements in support of Hatoyama's desire to have closer relations with Asia and with China in particular," Glaser said.

"We have a very strong desire in seeing a stable and cooperative Sino-Japanese relationship. I don't think the United States has concerns that Asia or China will replace the importance of the United States and Japan's foreign policy," Glaser said.

RETURN TO SOUTHEAST ASIA

In Singapore, the second stop on his Asia trip, Obama will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and hold a multilateral meeting with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The president might have an opportunity to meet with the leader of Myanmar.

Glaser said the Obama administration, which recognizes that the previous policy towards Myanmar had been ineffective, has been "very realistic" in seeking another way to engage with Myanmar.

"The relationship in Asia should really not be viewed in zero-sum terms. I don't think that the Obama administration views those relations in zero-sum terms. If we can improve our relations with Burma, it would be good for the whole region," she said.

Glaser said the Obama administration had been "trying to recalibrate and correct" its relations with Southeast Asian nations, "because we have allowed our own relations with the region to weaken in recent years, particularly in the Bush administration."

ENGAGEMENT WITH PYONGYANG

The Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue is a likely topic to be discussed between Obama and Asian leaders. China, Japan and South Korea are all participants in the six-party talks, which Washington says is the best way to reach the goal of a verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

However, the Obama administration has decided to launch bilateral talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by sending special representative Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang.

"There's no danger from the US point of view of having bilateral talks replace the six-party talks," said Glaser.

"The Obama administration's interest in having bilateral talks is for the sole purpose of getting back to the six-party talks. Soengaging with the North Koreans once, perhaps twice, before there is a reconvening of the six-party talks, that's essentially for the US game plan," she said.

The United States would very much like to see the DPRK "engaged bilaterally with these other countries," she said. "If all of these bilateral components can be activated, and also the six-party talks can resume at the same time, that would be ideal."