At ASEAN conference, Obama does not come and China tries to increase its influence

There is another conference in Asia that the USA President ended up not attending and where the Chinese seemingly hope to increase their influence:

China Offers Closer Ties at ASEAN Summit Skipped by Obama

WASHINGTON/BRUNEI — China has offered to improve ties with Southeast Asia, using a regional summit to compete for influence with the United States, whose President Barack Obama was notable for his absence.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei on Wednesday, pledging to boost Chinese investment in the region.

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Mr. Li also struck a conciliatory tone on long-running maritime disputes with ASEAN members. He said Beijing believes that “a peaceful South China Sea is a blessing for all” and that rival claims to the resource-rich waters should should be resolved through talks.

President Barack Obama had planned to meet with ASEAN leaders in Brunei but canceled his attendance to deal with domestic budgetary disputes that led to the partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government…

Hal Hill, a professor of Southeast Asian economies at the Australian National University, said Beijing partly did use a “divide and rule” strategy at last year’s summit. He said many Southeast Asian countries face a tough choice when dealing with China.

“The states adjoining China are very small, very poor countries next to a colossus, so they have to balance the importance of their relations with China, which is of course now the dominant economic and commercial power in the region, along with their attachment to ASEAN,” he said…

ASEAN members also were hoping to advance talks on a proposed free trade area spanning the entire Southeast Asian region, which is home to more than 600 million people. ASEAN wants to create the common market area by 2015. (http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-to-push-china-asean-to-resolve-sea-disputes/1765925.html)

The countries of Asia face several dilemmas. Most do not fully trust China, yet they are near China geographically while they also realize that the USA is not. And that the USA can get preoccupied with other matters.

The USA has been hurting its credibility throughout 2013 in terms of how it has handled its numerous fiscal ‘crises’ and its so-called ‘debt-ceiling’ (which it keeps raising, despite complaints by some about doing so).

ASEAN itself is a geo-political and economic organisation of ten countries located in Southeast Asia. It was formed on 8 August 1967 originally by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. China is a major trading partner for most of the members of ASEAN.

Since China is a lender and not really a borrower, many are realizing that China’s influence will tend to increase as that of the USA will decrease. Ultimately, many in Asia will cooperate militarily according to biblical prophecy (cf. Revelation 16:12).

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