Security worries reinforce US relevance to Asia

When US President Barack Obama boarded Air Force One for a 10-day, three-country tour just hours after a small group of gunmen and suicide bombers unleashed deadly terror on Paris, it seemed inevitable that his main message about countering the rise of China would be lost.

But in the president's view, the security concerns that arose after the attack made his work to deepen ties with China's neighbours all the more significant.

The Southeast Asian nations whom he has courted as a way to blunt Chinese influence share his worry about the potency of Islamic State, and they appear to have found fresh comfort during his trip in America's strong security hand.

As he prepared on Sunday to return to Washington, Obama made the case that his administration's long-term endeavour to redeploy US diplomatic, military and economic resources toward Asia was no less critical to national security than his strategy in the Middle East.

Obama pointed to a headline ("Obama's Asian Distraction?") that appeared while he was abroad and said: "The premise seemed to be that this region was somehow disconnected from pressing global events. I could not disagree more. This region is not a distraction from the world's central challenges, like terrorism."

Combining a stop at the Group of 20 summit in Turkey with visits to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Manila, Philippines, and finally the annual Asean gathering of Southeast Asian nations, the trip was laid out as an opportunity for Obama to highlight progress on his pivot to Asia.

The Paris attacks only reinforced how much countries in the region look to the US for help in combating terrorist groups, according to Ernest Bower, chair of Southeast Asia studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.