Obama to visit Japan, three other Asian countries in April

[Capt. Obvious]

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced he will visit Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines in April, six months after a scrapped tour of the region raised questions about his commitment to an increasingly influential region of the world.

Obama is due to meet with the leaders of all four nations, and plans to address diplomatic, economic and security issues, the White House said. In early October he shelved plans to visit Malaysia and the Philippines and attend regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei because of a U.S. government shutdown.

Political analysts said at the time that while the cancellation was understandable given events in the United States, it projected an unflattering image of the United States as politically and economically volatile and ceded the international stage to China.

Obama in 2012 declared a "pivot" to Asia, signaling that the United States would shift some of its focus from Europe and the Middle East to a region whose importance in world affairs has surged in the last decade. The United States hopes to build closer economic and military ties with Asian countries and keep pace with China's growing influence.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/us-usa-obama-asia-idUSBREA1C00220140213

[davidpdx]

1. It will be great to have President Obama back here in South Korea

[fujiyama]

2. Out of curiosity

What is the opinion of the people you meet in SK regarding the President and his policies?

[davidpdx]

3. Mixed, but it has been pretty good lately

It has been better since Obama was elected. Still there have been the issues of the KFTA and beef. When I first got here in 2004 there were lots of protests over the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. My FIL fought along side the US in the Korea war so he likes Americans.

[fujiyama]

4. KFTA - I'm assuming that refers to the Free Trade Agreement in the pipeline?

What do they think of that? I always find it interesting to hear what other people's perspectives are, and it's very difficult to get an idea because journalists usually only talk to elites (either "experts", business or political leaders). Our perspective is so often skewed.

[davidpdx]

5. That is actually already in effect

It went into effect a few years ago. This is different from the big TPP agreement which Korea won't sign (and I hope they don't because it cracks down on pirating).

I know that a lot more American food is being sold here which makes me happy. The grocery stores don't sell a lot of American beef even though it is about 1/3 of the cost of Korean or Australian beef.

[Left Coast2020]

6. TPP is clearly going to be a part of ANY discussion there.

And I hope the first words out of his mouth are, "I'm scraping the TPP. Its a bad deal for Americans."

[hourglass1]

7. The TPP

not so gentle corporatist nudge ... your protections made irrelevant ... the more you know about TPP the more you'll be against it. period.

http://www.citizen.org/tppaction

[quadrature]

8. sad news for American workers

the typical announcement will be made.

the US opens its markets,

in exchange, SKorea agrees to buy
some stuff --> they need anyway <-- ,
such as US grain, wood and industrial chemicals.