Obama's Asian trip delivers firm message

For anyone doubting Washington's determination to push ahead with its strategic "pivot" back towards Asia amid China's rise, US President Barack Obama's diplomatic offensive in Southeast Asia this weekend will make for jarring reading.

In staging the historic first visits by a serving US president to Myanmar and Cambodia, as well as stopping in Thailand to buttress one of Washington's oldest regional relationships, Obama is visiting three countries that have been among China's closer long-term partners in the region.

Staging the trip just days after winning re-election, he is also sending a clear message that the effort to deepen ties across the region will only intensify during his second term - even as he attempts to broaden engagement with China.

While all three stops are important in different ways, the Myanmar leg will, of course, hog the headlines. While some analysts and human rights activists have voiced concern at the White House's haste in dignifying Myanmar's leadership amid ongoing questions over inter-ethnic violence, Obama and his team seem determined to seize the moment to support the leadership's fledgling reforms.

The visit of his Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a year ago marked the first visit by a senior US official in six decades and was followed by a string of moves by President Thein Sein, a former general, to deepen social, political and economic reforms.

Myanmar yesterday announced the release of a further 452 prisoners, including an unspecified number of political prisoners, in an apparent gesture ahead of Obama's visit.

"It is a surprising visit, and certainly premature perhaps, but it will send a very strong signal to reformers that their ongoing efforts will be met with support if the trends continue," said Dr Ian Storey, a Southeast Asia strategic scholar at Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies. "It's a masterstroke...and China will not be very happy about it."