Obama Postpones Indonesia Trip, Allowing China to Arrive First
March 18, 2010, 10:55 PM EDTBy Nicholas Johnston and Roger Runningen
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama postponed a trip to Indonesia for three months to focus on his health-care plan, ceding ground to China in seeking trade and investment opportunities in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao plans to make his first visit to the country next month, according to Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry. Obama informed the leaders of Indonesia and Australia, where he had planned to visit on his return, that he will try to reschedule the trip for June, spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday.
“We greatly regret the delay in the trip, but at the same time have told the leaders that this is an important priority for the president,” Gibbs said of the health legislation.
Obama was set to leave on March 21, the same day the House of Representatives plans to vote on a $940 billion overhaul of the U.S. health-care system. Congressional delays in taking up health-care legislation had once before caused Obama to put off his departure for a region that the president has identified as key to U.S. trade policy.
Business leaders such as Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt have urged Obama to lobby for U.S. companies seeking to do business with Indonesia. Immelt called on Obama last week to “sell hard” on the trip, and highlighted Chinese competition in a March 17 speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
China Output
“China will pass the U.S. in total manufacturing output in the next four years,” Immelt said in the California speech. “We can only reverse this trend by producing great products and selling them competitively in every corner of the world.”
The trip was to include Obama’s second address on U.S. relations with the Muslim world, during the visit to Indonesia, the world’s most-populous Muslim country and where Obama spent part of his childhood. His first speech on the subject was June 4 in Cairo, where he called for a “new beginning” for the relationship.
While in Indonesia, Obama was also to be guest of honor at a state dinner in Jakarta, meet with Indonesian leaders and visit Bali. He also was set to sign a partnership agreement with Indonesia on issues including trade, investment and the environment. Indonesia was Asia’s third-fastest growing economy last year, behind China and India.
Australia Visit
In Australia, Obama was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and address the nation’s parliament. At the start of the trip, Obama was to stop in Guam and address U.S. troops.
Gibbs said Obama made the decision to postpone the trip at about 9:45 a.m. yesterday when it became clear the House vote would happen too late for Obama to keep his schedule of events in Indonesia and Australia.
“Scheduling worked throughout the night,” he said. “It just at that point seemed obvious to us that the best course of business was to reschedule Indonesia and Australia for June.”
Gibbs did not rule out adding other countries, such as India, to the itinerary for a newly planned trip.
Obama has long promised to visit Indonesia, a country where he lived for about four years as a child. His mother, an anthropologist, worked there for 20 years and he has a half- sister whose father is Indonesian.
Greater Trade
Along with the personal connection and speech on Muslim relations, Obama was also to push for greater trade between the nations as part of his goal to double U.S. exports over the next five years. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said March 17 in Washington that the U.S. expects Indonesia to be a “vast, steady market for green technologies.”
The Indonesians, “like everyone else in Asia, want to know what Obama’s trade policy is,” said Victor Cha, who was a National Security Council adviser on Asia to former President George W. Bush.
The trip was announced in February as a way to strengthen ties in the region, and was initially planned as a week-long visit that included meetings with government officials in both countries and a day of sightseeing in Sydney.
Obama was originally to be accompanied on the trip by first lady Michelle Obama wife and their two daughters. As the schedule for congressional health-care votes slipped, Gibbs announced March 12 that the trip would be delayed by two days and shortened. The Obamas then decided the family would stay in Washington so their daughters would not miss school. Traveling without his family, Obama was to leave March 21 and return on March 26, and the visit to Sydney was canceled.
Health Delay
The trip was put off yesterday as it became clear the House would not vote on health care until late in the day on March 21. Gibbs said there was no more flexibility in the schedule.
“We did not want, at 10:00 on Sunday morning, to make a call to the Indonesians and the Australians and say, ‘I know we were going to be there in a matter of hours, but we’re not going to be there’,” Gibbs told reporters. “I think that would cause some problems just on common sense and manners.”
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that Obama wants to bring his family for a “more relaxed” visit to Australia later in the year. Rudd said on Seven Network Ltd. Television that he talked to the president by telephone and Obama said he’d like to bring his family on the rescheduled visit.
“I’m going to be very happy any time the president chooses to visit,” Rudd said. “It would be nice to have him, Michelle and the kids.”
Gibbs said dates for the trip haven’t been set. The school attended by Obama’s daughters, Sidwell Friends in Washington, has its final day of classes before the summer break on June 11.
--With assistance from Hans Nichols in Washington, Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok, Stuart Biggs in Tokyo, Marion Rae in Canberra and Rachel Layne in Boston. Editors: Patrick Harrington,
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net; Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Kirk at jkirk12@bloomberg.net
