A fine display of US diplomacy

United States President Barack Obama's history-making visit to Southeast Asia this week was a consummate display of American high-level diplomacy.

But the four days filled with meetings and speeches might have left some wondering what the trip amounted to for US interests, since there were no big breakthroughs in knotty regional territorial issues or concrete deliverables in trade and economics.

Indeed, the President headed home on Tuesday, with seemingly few immediate or substantive rewards for deepening his strategic shift towards the Asia-Pacific in his second term.

In Thailand, he refreshed bilateral ties with the US' treaty ally.

The first sitting US president to set foot in Myanmar and Cambodia, he praised the former for political reform efforts and urged the latter to follow a similar path.

At the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, he gave Asean a boost by supporting its multilateral approach to tackling territorial friction in the South China Sea. In bilateral meetings, he reaffirmed the US-Japan alliance and economic ties. With China's outgoing Premier, he stressed shared responsibility for balanced global growth but also nudged Beijing on ensuring regional stability.

Far from being a re-election victory lap or an exercise in legacy building, analysts said, the President's tour was carefully designed to address questions that emerged during his first term's Asia rebalancing strategy, namely, sustainability of the effort and the US' intentions towards China.

Concerns about sustainability were prompted by the US' economic troubles and possible reductions in military spending. The heavy military theme of the policy raised fears of increased US-China rivalry with negative consequences for regional stability.

Allaying those worries in Asia would go some way in helping Washington execute its Asia "pivot" policy more evenly in the second term, with potentially positive economic outcomes for the US as it deepens ties with regional partners over the next four years.

The strongest statement the US can make about its ability to remain engaged in Asia is to get its financial affairs in order. But with no quick fixes for reducing the US budget deficit, the next best thing Washington could do was simply to show up, experts said.

Given the heavy demands on the President's time, spending four days in Asia right after his re-election was a clear statement of his intention to prioritise the Asia-Pacific in his foreign policy, said George Washington University international affairs professor Robert Sutter.

To dispel suspicion that its renewed focus on Asia was only about containing a rising China, the President and top officials played up the economic dimension of the Asia shift to a greater extent than before. Last year, "the pivot was often linked to security. This year, the rebalance has itself been rebalanced to incorporate economic cooperation as well", said Professor Donald Emmerson, a South-east Asia expert at Stanford University.

The US also announced a US-Asean Expanded Economic Engagement Initiative, which would help make the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal more attractive to Asean members.

Obama also used opportunities during his visit to restate the "pivot" in a way that is less alarming to China, analysts observed. This sent a strong statement to China's newly installed leaders.

Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia have strong economic ties with China. But Obama was careful not to let his visit to each country come across as a US-China tug-of-war for influence.

"In Myanmar and Cambodia, he returned to a more traditional articulation of US interests in democracy and human rights. By doing so, he made it clear it was not all about containing China," said Dr Michael Green of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Obama will have other foreign policy issues such as the Middle East unrest to attend to, but the Asia-Pacific will be guaranteed his presence at least once or twice a year for regional meetings.

"This regularity is very important because consistent presence and engagement means you don't need dramatic outcomes from each summit," said Dr Green.

"It means the US can steadily and consistently pursue the agenda it thinks is important for the region."