Daily Lessons from Life 23 April 2014 - Obama's Japan visit expected to focus on security, trade

MH370 Updates - still no sign of the black box nor any wreckage!

Incheon-Jeju Ferry Tragedy Updates - death toll crossed 150. More bodies to be recovered. Does not look good for the Captain and the crews and the company that owned the ferry.

"Obama's Japan visit expected to focus on security, trade - CNA 23 April 2014

TOKYO: US President Barack Obama has arrived in Tokyo, kicking off a four-nation Asian tour in which security and trade are expected to dominate talks.

After Japan, he travels to South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Political watchers hope President Obama's visit, his fifth to Asia during his presidency, will accelerate a revision of outdated Japan-US security guidelines.
"For Japan, it could be a big chance to have US security arrangements back in East Asia,” said Toshio Nagahisa, senior research fellow at PHP Institute.
“US security concerns are now in Europe such as Crimea. But Japan has tensions with neighbouring countries. To maintain stability in the region, Japan needs to strengthen US security ties with the US. So I think Abe will make effort on that."
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have talks with the US leader before their joint news conference on Thursday.
Jitsuo Tsuchiyama, professor of interntational security at Aoyama Gakuin University, said: “On Japan's side, the big difference is the military and economic rise of China."
Apart from security, another key issue on the agenda is trade.
These few weeks, US and Japanese officials have been trying to narrow differences on market access in the auto and agricultural sectors.
However, disputes remain over tariffs imposed by Japan on farm products and cars entering the domestic market, which have hampered broader negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal."

Well, so President Obama is visiting Asia for the 5th time. My admiration for him has dropped somewhat over the two terms of his Presidency. Maybe I had too high an expectation for such a revolutionary choice of USA President. :-)

Lessons for me are:

1. interesting that a group of parliamentarians visit the 'controversial' Yakusoni shrine, a sour point for China and South Korea and many other countries in Asia that were invaded and occupied by Japan during WWII, just the day before President Obama arrives;

2. is Abe government trying to send a signal to President Obama that he can do as he wants assuming the USA does not like to see Japan provoking its Asian neigbours? Or the USA encourages such actions to demonstrate that the USA is supportive of its strongest ally in Asia regardless of how China and South Korea and other countries may feel?;

3. whatever the situation, I find the USA stretched beyond its capability to be a true 'world police'. It is quite clear that President Putin does not care about how USA will react as he knows the USA is stretched. Spent even! Putin's laws seem to work for now. China will not be please with President Obama as he said for the 1st time by a USA President that the 'disputed island' between Japan and China belonged to Japan. It will be interesting to see how things will develop from here.

For me, President Obama will not achieve much on his 5th Asia visit. Two of the biggest nations, China and Russian, can basically pretend to humour the USA without heeding any 'advices' or even 'warnings'. India, the great big democracy, is not much help for now.

Maybe President Obama should just enjoy the journey and relax. He has made history as the first black African American President. Twice too. Maybe that is good enough?