US Turns to the Far East (UK)

Before Downing Street gets too smug over its coup in ensuring that Gordon Brown will, early next month, become the first EU leader to meet President Barack Obama, it should note two things. First, President Obama's first foreign visitor will actually be Taro Aso, the Japanese prime minister, who arrives in Washington tomorrow. This serves to confirm that the new administration's world view will focus across the Pacific rather than the Atlantic.

Hillary Clinton used her inaugural trip as Secretary of State not to visit Europe, the Middle East, or the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, but to take a swing through South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and China. The Far East will be Mr Obama's foreign policy priority. Second, when Mr Brown and Mr Obama do meet, we are unlikely to witness the communion of outlook that characterised the relationship of Mr Brown's predecessor with both of Mr Obama's. The President's economic stimulus package has strong protectionist elements that are anathema to the Prime Minister. There is also the potential for tensions on the security front, with some American commanders less than enthusiastic about the effectiveness of the British military both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FULL ARTICLE