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President Obama’s ‘Tense’ Trip Through Asia Shows The Region’s Pivot Away From United States Towards China

By Jon Mark
Published on: 18:02 PST, Sep 13, 2016

President Obama’s travel to China for the G20 Summit appears to show the growing trend of countries pulling away from the United States to acknowledge other powers in the region that could fill in the gap, such as Russia.

At the front of the group of statesmen are (left), China’s President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who are increasingly involved in settling issues in the Middle East and Asia, American president Obama is steps behind in the last year of his second term during G20 Summit in China. [Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Images]

During his visit with President Xi Jinping in China, which took place prior to the recent agreement between the U.S. and Russia over the Syrian Civil War, the Associated Press referred to some details in the new deal that would have Russia and the U.S. sharing intelligence to take on the Islamic State in Syria and the al-Nusra Front, who are an extension of al-Qaeda; an agreement that would exclude any involvement from the Syrian government.

Reuters has reported on the recent calm during the ceasefire, and the skepticism of the opposition who say that Syrian government forces will attack whenever they want.

The article and recent reports seem to confirm that Assad’s statements of taking back Syria from the terrorists, is not to be taken lightly.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad talks with government troops in Marj al-Sultan, six-years since the civil war started. [Photo by SANA via AP Images]

The U.S.-led coalition’s end-goal continues to be that Bashar al-Assad must be forced out of of Syria. But unless the United States is willing to engage in a massive war with Russia, President Obama has decided to take the route of diplomacy in order to help target terrorists instead.

Over the last several weeks, Turkey has helped to confuse the relationship between alliances who are helping fight ISIS, which required that there be some agreement with Russia at some level, in order to hold Assad back from attacking opposition forces.

At the time of the AP report, President Obama was traveling through Asia starting with the G20 Summit in China, which revealed some tense moments with Chinese security personnel and White House reporters and staff.

While it was unprecedented, the reports say that some feared there was going to be a fist-fight at some point, while Obama was still able to work with President Xi Jinping on a climate deal while there.

Further details of the confrontation are covered in an article by The New York Times by the same reporter who got a lecture by president Xi Jinping a few years ago, who traveled with the press on Air Force One.

It’s been reported as well that one of the Chinese officials told those on the tarmac that “China [this] was their [our] country,” which is a clear line of attack against the United States as a presence which has a history of getting mixed up in regional affairs.

But that incident and the overall tone of defiance against President Obama on his trip through Asia can be seen as one of regional defiance against the United States, under a Russian banner.

There is much to say about the ability for China and the United States to be able to pass a climate change pact which they’re both leading the charge for, but the “failure” of the U.S. president being able to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership deal is a win for China, allowing them to take the lead in trading power throughout the world.

In a report by TheInquisitr, there’s also defiance from Filipino President Duterte, who since the report, has demanded that American troops in the area leave the country in order to reduce the bloodshed from terrorists, who might be targeting them because of an American presence.

President Duterte is also pulling back from an agreement that was made in April with the U.S. by his predecessor Benigno Aquino III to patrol disputed waters in the South China Sea. Wanting the Filipino military to not tag along with either U.S. or Chinese forces, he’s also looking to cut an arms deal with China instead of the U.S.

ISIS being the driving force of engagement in the Middle East where Russia is taking the lead, it’s been reported by the Xinhua News Agency that China has had at least one discussion with the Syrian government in August to provide humanitarian aid. But it isn’t clear as to whether there might be military involvement in the future. If so, that could be the final move made by China to push the United States out of the area.

[Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Images]

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