Evan Osnos wrote a decent post on Obama's Burma trip. He reports the the Chinese Propaganda Department ordered the media to downplay the visit. They've done that effectively; Ping read an article about the trip. The article said Obama's speech was so dull Clinton fell asleep.
Over at Via Meadia, there was a piece about the ASEAN statement. It has long been ASEAN's position that territorial disputes should discussed only in multilateral negotiations. This is also America's position. The Chinese dislike this; they believe territorial issues should be resolved in bilateral negotiations.
In any case, yesterday ASEAN put out a statement saying territorial disputes shouldn't be "internationalized". This came as a bit of a shock. I remember seeing the story, I think on Drudge, and thinking: how could we let this happen while Obama is there?
Turns out the statement was issued by Cambodia without clearance or consultation. ASEAN's position has not changed.
It would have been surprising had it changed. In any case, this gives us a pretty good idea Cambodia is still in China's camp. Doubtless the wooing will continue. My worry is Southeast Asian countries will attempt to freeload. Australia's budget cuts are a potential example of this. This is something we need to look out for in the next few months.
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