Obama Targets Maritime Security as China Spars With Philippines Over Sea. President Barack Obama said the East Asia Summit he is attending in Indonesia is the “premier” arena to discuss concerns over maritime security, a topic China has resisted addressing at international forums.
The gathering “can be the premier area for us to be able to work together on a wide range of issues: maritime security or nonproliferation,” Obama said at the beginning of a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bali. His comments come as the Philippines pushes for resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea when Southeast Asian leaders meet later with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who has sought to keep the issue off the agenda.
The Philippines has called on the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to facilitate talks with China over disputed areas of the sea that contain oil and gas resources. Asean leaders are also meeting today with Obama, whose administration has pledged to bolster the naval defenses of the Philippines, a treaty ally. U.S. Obama boosts U.S. military in Australia, reassures China. Playing with fire: Obama's threat to China. When it comes to China policy, is the Obama administration leaping from the frying pan directly into the fire?
In an attempt to turn the page on two disastrous wars in the greater Middle East, it may have just launched a new Cold War in Asia - once again, viewing oil as the key to global supremacy. The new policy was signalled by President Obama himself on November 17 in an address to the Australian Parliament in which he laid out an audacious - and extremely dangerous - geopolitical vision. Instead of focusing on the greater Middle East, as has been the case for the last decade, the United States will now concentrate its power in Asia and the Pacific. "My guidance is clear," he declared in Canberra. "As we plan and budget for the future, we will allocate the resources necessary to maintain our strong military presence in this region.
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