Obama seeks to seal Asian alliances with Hiroshima trip

With the end of his presidency in sight, Mr Barack Obama is racking up a series of legacy-friendly trips. Fresh from his historic visit to Cuba in March, Mr Obama will become the first sitting United States President to go to Hiroshima later this month.

Mr Obama will use his visit to Hiroshima’s memorial, which honours those killed by a US atomic bomb in 1945, to discuss his vision of a nuclear-free world — but he will also use it as an important step towards cementing the alliance between the US and Japan. The former enemies are now at the centre of a web of relationships and links in Asia aimed at restraining China.

From Japan, Mr Obama is due to travel to Vietnam, another one-time foe that is seeking US assistance as it tries to come to terms with Beijing’s growing influence in the South China Sea and its campaign to build artificial islands.

“China has to understand that the US relationship with Japan is rock solid,” says Mr Nicholas Burns, a former senior state department official advising presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “And for Americans of my generation — I was in high school when the war ended — to hear the Vietnamese say that they want to have a strategic relationship with us is an enormous advantage for the US.”

Mr Obama has come under criticism at home over his stewardship of the US’ traditional alliances, after sparking frustration in Gulf Arab countries with his Iran and Syria policies, and complaints in some parts of Europe that he is not engaged with the region’s problems.

The Asia trip also comes as anxiety rises about the future direction of US alliances with countries in Europe and Asia. Mr Donald Trump and Mrs Clinton are preparing to face off in the November election, presenting countries such as Japan with two very different potential scenarios depending on who wins the White House.

Officials and Asia experts say Japan would welcome the election of Mrs Clinton, who is viewed in Tokyo as being more hawkish than Mr Obama, particularly when it comes to dealing with China on issues such as the South China Sea, where the White House has until recently resisted a push by the Pentagon to take a tougher stance with Beijing.

Mr Trump, however, espouses an isolationist “America first” policy that has raised concerns in Japan and other US allies in the region, including South Korea. He has said he would consider pulling US troops out of both countries unless they contribute more to pay for the alliance — in a move that most experts believe would destabilise two of the bedrock post-war alliances in Asia. The mogul has also suggested that Tokyo and Seoul should consider developing nuclear weapons, which he said would lessen the pressure on America to help every time North Korea “raises its head”.

The Trump and Clinton campaigns did not respond to questions about whether they thought Mr Obama was making the right decision by visiting Hiroshima.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when asked whether Mr Obama should apologise for the bombing, delicately dismissed the question, illustrating the new pragmatism in US-Japan relations. When the US President offers his condolences at Hiroshima, he will “meet the wishes of the victims and of those who still suffer today”, Mr Abe said.

ASIAN PIVOT

In Asia, however, the Obama administration has quietly retooled its relationships with almost every friendly country in the region, taking advantage of the growing unease about China’s military build-up.

America’s relationship with Tokyo has plenty of unresolved historical baggage — not just regarding the legacy of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also occasional US awkwardness over the Japanese government’s treatment of its own second world war legacy.

For Mr Abe, Mr Obama’s visit to Hiroshima is another step towards renovating an alliance that frayed after the end of the cold war but is once again a cornerstone of national security.

The two countries have revised their guidelines for defence co-operation, allowing Japan to come to the aid of US ships or planes more easily should they come under attack. Officials from both governments describe the alliance as the linchpin of broader efforts to deter China from seeking regional dominance.

Hiroshima’s peace park and memorial commemorates the estimated 90,000 people who were killed after the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. Competing sensitivities between Tokyo and Washington over whether the US should apologise for the attack has prevented a US presidential visit to the city for 70 years.

“I hate to use the term ‘red lines’ because it has not worked out so well in certain areas, but I think there are certain lines here that the US and Japan has to be very clear on,” says Mr Chuck Hagel, former US defence secretary.

For all the success in boosting its alliances in the region, the Obama “pivot” to Asia faces two fundamental challenges. The first is the uncertain future of its main economic component, the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which has yet to pass the US Senate and is opposed by all threeremaining candidates for president.

The other factor is China, which shows no sign of backing down on the South China Sea disputes, despite increased pressure from the US and its allies.

With a court in The Hague expected to rule in June or July on a case involving claims by China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, some observers worry that Beijing will seek to strengthen its position beforehand — perhaps by declaring control over the airspace in the region or seeking to build facilities on the contested Scarborough Shoal. FINANCIAL TIMES

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Geoff Dyer and Robin Harding are Financial Times’ correspondents in Washington and Tokyo respectively.