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Barack Obama
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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama departed for China on Sunday, on a trip meant to help allay Washington’s sometimes tense relations with Beijing.
Obama left Washington in the pre-dawn hours en route to an air force base in Alaska, where his plane refuelled before travelling on to Beijing. The US leader was accompanied on his eight-day trip, which also includes visits to Myanmar and Australia, by his national security adviser Susan Rice and several other top aides.
The China leg of his trip will be dominated by Obama’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the White House said it expects “candid and in-depth conversations”. The relationship between the two superpowers, which US Secretary of State John Kerry has called the “most consequential” in the world today, has been marred by tensions over the South China Sea, cyberspying and human rights issues.
Obama will also attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.
In Myanmar, Obama will meet President Thein Sein and opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi and attend a summit of ASEAN nations in Naypyidaw.
Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2014
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