Event Summary
In mid-November, President Barack Obama began his first trip to Asia as president with a visit to Tokyo. He also traveled to China, South Korea and Singapore, where took part in meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Prior to the president's trip, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies and the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings hosted a discussion of President Obama’s trip and the issues he was likely to face. Jeffrey Bader, special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asian affairs on the National Security Council, provided a keynote address outlining the White House’s strategy for the trip. A panel of leading experts then focused on each stop in President Obama’s journey, analyzing, as appropriate, environmental cooperation, trade issues, alliance management, and regional security challenges.
After the programs, panelists took audience questions.