Obama turns to a place where economy grows

US President Barack Obama speaks with Thai King Bhumibol Adulayadej, centre right, during an audience granted at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok yesterday. Obama arrived in Asia to intensify a US foreign policy pivot towards the fast-rising region on his first overseas trip since re-election, including a landmark visit to Myanmar. Photo: AFP

Barack Obama's trip to Myanmar is a gift from the photo-opportunity gods. The sight of the US president standing beside political-prisoner-turned-Nobel- laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon will be a heart-warming moment for a world yearning for good news.
During the four-day journey, Obama will bypass China as well as such staunch Pacific allies as Australia, Japan and South Korea, not to mention Europe and the Middle East. Rather, he is visiting Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The obvious motivation for the route is to drum up new markets for corporate America with US-led regional trade talks. Less obvious is telling Southeast Asia that for the US, China isn't the only game in town. It is a show of support not just for Myanmar's opening, but for nations that may be future democratic bulwarks in a region awash in authoritarianism.
That is surely how many in China see Obama's journey, and he shouldn't be reluctant to own that message. China's belligerent behaviour has unnerved other Asian nations, prompting their leaders to put out a large welcome mat for the US. It is an ideal juncture for the US in a region that is home to most of the world's people, many of its geopolitical trouble spots and some of the most-dynamic economies.
That designation is a wink to Obama's time spent as a child in Indonesia. Attributes that were a disadvantage in his race against Romney and keep billionaire Donald Trump awake at night play well in Asia. I'm reminded of some farmers I met in September on the outskirts of Naypyidaw, who longed for the Obama-Suu Kyi moment on Burmese soil.
When he took office in 2009, Suu Kyi was locked up, trade negotiations with Malaysia and Thailand were stalled and the US wasn't even showing up to Asian summits. Obama's second term gives him a chance for a reset.
Asia has all too few strong and creative leaders to articulate its aspirations and where it wants to be in 20 years. It is telling that the most potent words uttered about Asia's brawl over various insignificant tiny islands came from Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. He called the nationalism driving Asia apart “cheap liquor”: it gets you drunk, causes you to do and say things you regret and ends in a bad hangover.
This leadership vacuum means Asia's disputes and challenges fester from one generation to the next. It allows a crafty and ambitious power like China to wrap its tentacles around the future.
Japan's territorial claims also heighten tensions. The prospect of former premier and nationalist Shinzo Abe returning to the job next month after a national election won't calm nerves.
Myanmar will lead the headline parade as Obama meets with Suu Kyi. The Chinese won't like it. Nor will they like Obama bonding with Thein Sein. He enraged China last year by scrapping a huge hydroelectric-dam project amid popular discontent.
In Bangkok, Obama was expected to secure Thai entry into a US-led trade pact set up in opposition to China. It would be the 12th country to join negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Obama's top trade priority. In Cambodia, Obama will speak at the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh to press his case that America increasingly views itself as a Pacific nation.
It's a decent start for Obama's second term, but hardly enough. There has rarely been a better time for the US to play a transformative role in Asia. To succeed, Obama needs to do more than speak in generalities and pose for photos. He must relocate that quality that first endeared him to Americans: audacity.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.