Obama courts Asian partners

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By Matthew Mosk

TOKYO | President Obama called for an Asia-Pacific region in which China works cooperatively with the U.S., where North Korea and Burma end their isolation and where nations work together to eliminate nuclear weapons and stop belching pollutants into the atmosphere, a grand vision that he laid out in his first major speech on American-Asian relations here Saturday.

The hour-long address in a cavernous symphony hall in this bustling city's downtown represented the latest in a series of major foreign speeches that aim to rebuild the American global brand by focusing on Mr. Obama's tone and broad vision, rather than by delving into nettlesome details. Mr. Obama revisited themes that have guided his approach to foreign policy during a globetrotting year that, after this four-nation tour, will make him the most traveled first-year president in history.

"Since taking office, I have worked to renew American leadership and pursue a new era of engagement with the world based on mutual interests and mutual respect," he said.

"The United States looks to strengthen old alliances and build new partnerships with the nations of this region," he said. "To do this, we look to America's treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines - alliances that are not historical documents from a bygone era but abiding commitments to each other that are fundamental to our shared security. These alliances continue to provide the bedrock of security and stability that has allowed the nations and peoples of this region to pursue opportunity and prosperity that was unimaginable at the time of my first visit to Japan."

Mr. Obama made clear that he brings a unique personal resume to the effort to reach out to the nations of Asia. His youth in Hawaii and Indonesia, he said, make him "America's first Pacific president."

"When I was a young boy, my mother brought me to Kamakura, where I looked up at that centuries-old symbol of peace and tranquility - the great bronze Amida Buddha," he said."As a child, I was more focused on the matcha ice cream. But I have never forgotten the warmth and hospitality that the Japanese people showed a young American far from home."

The president also made a light-hearted reference to another connection to Japan, giving a "shout out" to the city of Obama, a town of 32,000 north of Kyoto, about five hours by train from Tokyo on the "Obama line." A crowd of 1,500 at the Suntory Hall, many of them listening to an interpreter providing real-time translation, responded warmly to the reference.

By the time he finished, Mr. Obama had the crowd on its feet. Mie Ueda, a retiree who used to run a shelter for victims of domestic violence in Osaka, was watching on television.

"President Obama looks so confident and, at the same time, shows an attitude of generosity. In the past, American leaders seem to think this is an America-centered world," she said. "But Mr. Obama tries to listen to other people's opinion and shows an attitude of respecting others."

The notion that the United States wants to forge partnerships built on mutual respect and shared interests has been a recurring motif for Mr. Obama. Those words surfaced in his speech to Muslims in June, when he said he sought "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect."