Fate of Obama's pivot to the East policy hangs in the balance

OUTGOING US President Barack Obama hopes that one of his top foreign policy legacies would be his policy of re-orienting - or "pivoting" - America's geo-strategic and geo-economic direction from Europe and the Middle East to East and South Asia.

 Mr Obama - who was born in Hawaii and spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, and who has described himself as "America's first Pacific President" - insisted at the beginning of his presidency that the United States should start reducing its military footprint and diplomatic commitments in the Middle East and shift its attention to the Pacific Rim area. And, indeed, he took steps to withdraw US troops from Iraq, while stating that he would move the campaign against international terrorism off the top of the agenda.

The policy was welcomed by America's allies across the Pacific, especially in South-east Asia, which had complained that Mr Obama's predecessor had been preoccupied with the crises in the Greater Middle East and didn't spend enough time and resources on dealing with the changing strategic balance of power in their part of the world, particularly with China's rise at the centre of this transformation.  The Obama administration responded to these concerns by releasing in 2011 its "Pivot to East Asia" strategy which called for "strengthening bilateral security alliances; deepening our working relationships with emerging powers, including with China; engaging with regional multilateral institutions; expanding trade and investment; forging a broadbased military presence; and advancing democracy and human rights".