While President Obama achieved some small security gains during his meetings in Asia last week, the decline in the US economy and the relative rise of China prevented him from gaining much ground on the economic front. Many Asian nations, despite being wary of China’s rise and growing power, are concerned that the US economic leadership role in the world, and particularly in Asia, is in permanent decline.

President Obama has declared that US foreign policy would pivot more to Asia given the vibrancy of the region, and as host to Asian leaders at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Hawaii, he emphasized that the US was working to conclude important trade agreements with Asian countries to increase trade and economic linkages. Following the APEC meeting, he travelled to Indonesia where he attended a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which focused primarily on security issues.  Obama’s final trip was to Australia where he announced that the US would establish a more permanent military presence with the stationing of 2,500 US Marines.