Earlier this week U.S. President Barack Obama wrapped up a trip to Asia that included stops in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Diplomat reported on the trip from a number of different angles, including an interview with Jonathan Pollack of the Brookings Institution; Obama’s failure to meet with Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim; the new U.S.-Philippine basing agreement; and Obama’s pledge that the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands are covered under the U.S.-Japanese security pact. Over at our China Power blog, Shannon also covered China’s relatively muted response to the trip.
As it turned out, the White House also cataloged the president’s trip through the region. Its medium of choice appears to have been videos. Indeed, the White House posted nearly 20 videos from Obama’s weeklong trip through Asia (along with a bunch of photos).
We thought we’d end the week by sharing some of these videos with you (For more videos, check out The Diplomat’s new YouTube channel).
First, there were the press conferences President Obama held with the top leaders in each country. The White House released videos for all of these, which we are posting in chronological order.
Then there are the state dinners that were held for Obama during the trip. The White House posted videos of Obama speaking at such dinners in Japan, Malaysia (which had a state banquet), and the Philippines. Oddly, the president didn’t wear a tuxedo at the Philippines state dinner, which appears to have been far more casual than the ones in Japan and Malaysia.
President Obama spent part of his trip meeting with young people and civil society in the countries he was visiting. For example, here’s a video of the president’s town hall at the University of Malaya for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative.
President Obama also spoke at a couple of military bases in the region. Here’s a video of Obama speaking to Filipino and U.S. Armed Forces at Fort Bonifacio near the end of his trip.
Inexcusably, the White House did not release a single video of Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe eating at the famous sushi restaurant in Tokyo, Sukiyabashi Jiro. Fortunately, ABC News held a special report on it: