A fine display of US diplomacy
Obama's S-E Asian trip meant to address questions on Asia-Pacific pivot
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CAMBODIA: US President Barack Obama returning a greeting to Bun Rany, wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (centre), before a gala dinner on Monday. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS
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MYANMAR: Mr Obama embracing Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after they spoke to the media at her residence in Yangon on Monday. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS
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THAILAND: Mr Obama with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at the Government House in Bangkok on Sunday. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMBODIA: US President Barack Obama returning a greeting to Bun Rany, wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (centre), before a gala dinner on Monday. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MYANMAR: Mr Obama embracing Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after they spoke to the media at her residence in Yangon on Monday. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS
THAILAND: Mr Obama with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at the Government House in Bangkok on Sunday. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - United States President Barack Obama's history-making visit to South-east Asia this week was a consummate display of American high-level diplomacy.
But the four days filled with meetings and speeches might have left some wondering what the trip amounted to for US interests, since there were no big breakthroughs in knotty regional territorial issues or concrete deliverables in trade and economics.
Indeed, the President headed home on Tuesday, with seemingly few immediate or substantive rewards for deepening his strategic shift towards the Asia-Pacific in his second term.
In Thailand, he refreshed bilateral ties with the US' treaty ally.