** Video clip: Obama đón tiếp lãnh đạo của 10 quốc gia khối ASEAN...
![AT THE SUMMIT US President Barack Obama delivers opening remarks at the two-day summit with leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Rancho Mirage, California. With Obama are (from left) President Aquino, Laos President Choummaly Sayasone, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, US Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen. AP]()
![President Barack Obama arrives in Palm Springs, California on Feb. 12, 2016. Obama is hosting leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday and Tuesday at the Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]()
Bức ảnh nữ sinh quỳ ôm Thủ tướng
Hình ảnh một nữ sinh Việt quỳ xuống sàn nhà ăn,
ôm Thủ tướng Nguyễn Tấn Dũng để chụp ảnh
(nguồn trên trang facebook Báo Du Học).
Vừa xảy ra tại California, khi ông Dũng đang ở Mỹ dự hội
nghị thượng đỉnh Asean- Hoa Kỳ.
Một bức hình tệ hại cho cả hai phía- cô nữ sinh, lẫn ông Thủ tướng.
Một sinh viên có lòng tự trọng, không lết gối quỳ ôm ông Dũng vậy.
Ngược lại, nó cũng cho thấy tầm văn hoá và mức liêm sỉ của một
chính khách hàng nguyên thủ ở mức nào,
khi thản nhiên ngửa bụng thẳng lưng trên ghế, để một nữ sinh
quỳ gối ôm mình chụp ảnh như vậy.
Tôi không tin những bạn trẻ này làm được điều gì hữu ích cho tổ quốc.
Rất tiếc, với nhiều bạn trẻ, lại hay xem đó là niềm... vinh hạnh!
Con tôi, không có tiền để du học.
Nhưng tôi vui, vì nó luôn biết nhìn vào những hình ảnh X
này để khinh bỉ, tránh xa.
Thứ Ba, 16 tháng Hai năm 2016 04:08
Tác Giả: Trương Duy Nhất
** Video clip: Obama đón tiếp lãnh đạo của 10 quốc gia khối ASEAN...
** Video clip: Diễn văn khai mạc của Obama..
BMHWashington, D.C
Obama eyes US-Asean united front vs China
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:31 AM February 17th, 2016
AT THE SUMMIT US President Barack Obama delivers opening remarks at the two-day summit with leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Rancho Mirage, California. With Obama are (from left) President Aquino, Laos President Choummaly Sayasone, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, US Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen. AP
RANCHO MIRAGE, California—In hosting the first ever summit between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on American soil, US President Barack Obama wants to send a strong message to China as he hopes to form with the 10-nation bloc a united front against the Asian giant’s territorial ambitions.
“We do believe that it is important to send a message that we support rules-based order in the Asia-Pacific region in which disputes are resolved peacefully and the escalation of tension is avoided,” Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security adviser, told Southeast Asian journalists in a press briefing.
On Monday afternoon, Obama cited the central role of Southeast Asia in the US strategy in the Asia-Pacific region as he welcomed the Asean leaders to the unprecedented two-day summit at Sunnylands, a 200-hectare secluded retreat at Rancho Mirage in the middle of the California desert.
“Early in my presidency, I decided that the United States, as a Pacific nation, would rebalance its foreign policy and play a larger and long-term role in the Asia-Pacific,” he told the Asean leaders.
“Here at this summit, we can advance our shared vision of a regional order where international rules and norms, including freedom of navigation, are upheld and where disputes are resolved through peaceful, legal means,” he added.
Common response
Obama and Asean leaders will discuss on Tuesday a common response to a key UN court ruling on China’s island-building in the disputed South China Sea.
Four Asean members—the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia—and Taiwan have overlapping claims in the 3.5-million-square-kilometer strategic waterway that China claims in its entirety.
Washington, reckoning that Beijing does not want to be seen as a regional bully, has mustered an informal coalition of Asia-Pacific allies to demand that the latter respect the rule of law. Obama is seeking to secure a united front against China’s territorial ambitions.
A collective US-Asean endorsement of the UN court’s verdict—whatever the outcome—would heap pressure on China, which refuses to recognize the court. The UN court is expected to decide in April or May whether China’s claim to a vast expanse of sea inside a “nine-dash line” has legal merit
Working dinner
The United States and Asean “hope, if not immediately, then over time, the Chinese will not want to be isolated as an international pariah, a country that doesn’t agree with international law,” said Ernest Bower of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
During the working dinner on Monday, US and Southeast Asian leaders were one in voicing concern over the continued militarization in the South China Sea, according to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The leaders also expressed worry over “China’s unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the region through island building, construction activities and test flights,” the DFA reported. “In this regard, the crucial importance of freedom of navigation and overflight was highlighted.”
China’s moves in the South China Sea have prompted Manila to file a case challenging Beijing’s maritime claims in the UN court. China also has increased its military presence in these areas subject to myriad territorial claims.
The United States has been stressing respect for freedom of navigation in the region. Last month, the USS Curtis Wilbur sailed within 22.2 kilometers (12 nautical miles) off a disputed island chain, with a US official saying it was a “freedom of navigation operation” and intended to “challenge excessive maritime claims of parties.”
Strong pushback
The summit comes as US and Asean officials report increasingly strong pushback from Beijing, which is using diplomatic and economic muscle to weaken criticism.
Officials say Cambodia and Laos—two Asean countries that have no claim in the South China Sea—are coming under particular pressure to break ranks. The two countries are the destination for large flows of Chinese investment.
“The message is ‘fall in line, or else,’” said one Southeast Asian diplomat. “China has leverage.”
But some analysts see signs that Chinese pressure is beginning to backfire—forcing Asean countries to turn further toward the United States. That is something Obama will hope to capitalize on at Sunnylands.
Even so, an editorial in the influential Chinese tabloid, Global Times, on Tuesday said the California summit was the wrong place to discuss South China Sea issues and that it would not yield “striking geopolitical decisions.”
“Asean countries have no such desire, and the US knows it is not able to do so,” the Global Times said, repeating Beijing’s stance that disputes in the sea should be handled bilaterally. With reports from the wires
5 things to know about Obama’s summit
with Southeast Asian leaders
President Barack Obama arrives in Palm Springs, California on Feb. 12, 2016. Obama is hosting leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday and Tuesday at the Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hosts Southeast Asian leaders at an unprecedented summit in California starting Monday as he looks to deepen ties with the region’s fast-growing economies. But a nation not invited — neighboring power China — will be the proverbial elephant in the room as the leaders grapple with sensitive territorial disputes.
As part of Obama’s so-called pivot in U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific, he has made a point of traveling to the region each fall to meet with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Now, Obama is inviting ASEAN leaders to the U.S., and to the same venue where he hosted China’s President Xi Jinping in 2013. U.S. officials say the two-day summit at the Sunnylands estate is not directed against China, a strategic rival of the U.S. But the military might and economic clout of the rising Asian power is likely to loom over their discussions.
Some things to know about the summit:
___
TOP ISSUE: SOUTH CHINA SEA
The top security issue on the agenda. China says it has a historical right to virtually all of the South China Sea and has built seven artificial islands, including airstrips, to assert its sovereignty. Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim land features in these potentially resource-rich waters, an important thoroughfare for world trade. Although not a claimant, the U.S. has spoken out against China’s conduct and the Navy has sailed close to some of the artificial islands, angering Beijing but getting some quiet encouragement from most ASEAN members. The U.S. is looking for ASEAN to take a unified stance by calling for the territorial disputes to be resolved according to international law.
___
TRADE AND TPP
America has longstanding economic interests in Southeast Asia. U.S. companies have invested $226 billion in the region, and two-way trade was $254 billion last year. On Day One at Sunnylands, the leaders will discuss how to expand trade and investment with the help of U.S. entrepreneurship and innovation. Also likely on the agenda: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, Obama’s signal achievement on trade, which the administration often characterizes as an opportunity for the U.S., rather than China, to shape the rules of world trade. The four ASEAN members in TPP — Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam — will want to know if it Congress will ratify the pact, which remains in doubt. Other ASEAN members, like Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, have expressed interest in joining TPP at a later date.
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THREAT FROM ISLAMIC STATE GROUP
The U.S. wants to deepen counter-terrorism and intelligence cooperation with Southeast Asian nations. Despite the region’s relative success in combating al-Qaida-linked militancy since 9/11, the Islamic State group, or IS, appears to be gaining a foothold. Indonesian authorities said that IS funded a suicide attack that hit a Starbucks in Jakarta last month, the first major terrorist attack in the capital city in six years. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s most populace Muslim nation, have all reported citizens traveling to fight in Iraq and Syria, and several small militant groups in the Philippines have pledged allegiance to IS.
___
AWKWARD QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS
The 10 members of ASEAN run the gamut of political systems, from open democracy to one-party rule. Obama will emphasize the importance of the rule of law and civil society but likely avoid open criticism of a particular nation. Human rights activists have faulted the U.S. for inviting unelected leaders, like Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a May 2014 military coup. Also attending is Cambodia’s Hun Sen, who has used violence and intimidation against political opponents and is making his first official U.S. visit during a 31-year tenure as prime minister.
____
WHO ISN’T COMING
Like Obama, several of the ASEAN leaders are lame ducks with little time left in office. They include Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, whose six-year term ends in June, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who was sidelined at a recent Communist Party congress. Both men are due to come to Sunnylands, but the outgoing leader from Myanmar is sending a deputy in his place. Myanmar’s President Thein Sein has overseen democratic reforms in the former pariah state but his pro-military party was trounced in November elections and he’ll stand down by April. The new government led by the party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has yet to take office.
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