Obama set for Asian tour

Fazle Rashid NEW YORK, Nov 16: President Barack Obama, begining today, will set out for a trip to Asia the main focus of which will be China. He will visit Australia and Indonesia to announce a strategic shift in US foreign policy. The US's global influence is on the wane. Barack Obama wants to be a partner of the "booming Asia". The United States will use Darwin in Australia as the new centre of operation in Asia mainly to grapple China's growing influence in the region. It is symbolic as well. Gen Douglas MacArthur, the US commander, had used Darwin during World War 11 to reclaim the Pacific from Japan. The United States wants to prove to its Asian allies that it intends to remain a crucial military and economic power in the region "as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are drawing to a close" Over the past two years China has asserted itself to make territorial claims in the resource rich South China Sea. Many small nations in the region have asked Washington to re-engage in the region as a counterweight, the New York Times in a report said. Pentagon is quietly working on a new strategy dubbed AirSea battle concept which is designed to find ways to counter Chinese military plans to deny access to US forces in the seas surrounding China, an analyst said. Although hard hit by massive cuts in defence outlay Obama assures that the US will not retreat from the region and allow China to rule. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the meanwhile has asked China to slacken its control on the financial markets. The IMF report on China said the country has made remarkable progress over last three decades but the country's integretion with global economy make it more urgent for its banks to operate according to market forces. China reacted sharply saying it does not want to become bastion of free market capitalism.