President Obama is in Bangkok today on the first leg of a post-re-election foreign-policy pivot to expand US influence in the region.
He is to meet with Thai King Bhumibol Adulyaej, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, during what is his fourth trip to the continent since taking office in 2009. He’s off tomorrow to Myanmar, a nation trying to emerge from years of international isolation as Burma. After that, he heads to Cambodia for the East Asia Summit.
“[The president’s] decision to travel to Asia so soon after his re-election speaks to the importance that he places on the region and its centrality to so many of our national security interests and priorities,” said national security adviser Tom Donilon.