The Washington Post.
ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — Just days after winning a second
term, the Obama administration is intensifying its focus on Asia, with
the Pentagon chief, secretary of state and the president himself making
visits to the region to underline the White House’s foreign policy
priorities for the next four years.
Despite the ongoing war in Afghanistan and unresolved flash
points in the Middle East and North Africa, President Obama and his
senior national security team are pushing ahead with the strategic
“pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region that they announced at the start of
the year.
The second-term effort got underway Monday as Defense
Secretary Leon E. Panetta traveled to Perth, Australia, for two days of
talks with the country’s leaders. Joining those talks will be Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, the
commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific.
From there, Panetta and
Clinton will hopscotch across the region separately, stopping in
Cambodia and Thailand a few days apart.
