US President Barack Obama has cancelled a planned visit to Malaysia, the first by a sitting US president since 1966, as a US government shutdown entered a second day with no end in sight to the funding row in Congress that triggered it.
The development is the first sign that political gridlock in Washington over Mr Obama’s key healthcare reforms, known as “Obamacare”, is creating fallout for his administration abroad.
Mr Obama was to have visited Kuala Lumpur as part of a four-nation swing through Southeast Asia, where he was to reinforce the US military and economic commitment to the region, and attend next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
However Najib Razak, Malaysian prime minister, said he had received a phone call from Mr Obama on Wednesday morning to say he could not come.
“I informed him that I understand the domestic situation in the United States which does not allow him to make an official visit now and, even if he did visit Malaysia, it would be questioned by the American community,” Mr Najib said in remarks quoted by Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency.
A spokesman for Mr Najib’s office told the Financial Times that the prime minister still hoped to meet Mr Obama at the Apec summit in Bali.
Teuku Faizasyah, the foreign relations adviser to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said that he was hopeful that Mr Obama would still come to Indonesia for the Apec leaders’ meetings on October 7 and 8.
“It’s in the US’ interest to be part of the Apec process because they have invested a lot in it,” he said. “We hope there won’t be any difficulties for President Obama to attend.”
The Obama administration has placed a huge emphasis on showing up at Asian events and this trip comes as it is trying to force the pace on Pacific trade talks. But it could look bad to travel while there is a political crisis at home – President Bill Clinton cancelled an Asia trip during the last shutdown.
This was to have been Mr Obama’s first visit to Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy. Lyndon Johnson, the former Democrat, was the last occupant of the White House to visit the country.
Malaysia is a key moderate Muslim ally for the US in the region, and a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which is trying to forge consensus on how to deal with China’s increasing military assertiveness in disputed waters in the South China Sea.
However US-Malaysia ties were recently refreshed with a visit by Mr Najib to the US last month.
Mr Najib met US companies in meetings organised by the US-Asean Business Council and in opened an office for Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah, in San Francisco.
Additional reporting Ben Bland in Jakarta
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The development is the first sign that political gridlock in Washington over Mr Obama’s key healthcare reforms, known as “Obamacare”, is creating fallout for his administration abroad.
Mr Obama was to have visited Kuala Lumpur as part of a four-nation swing through Southeast Asia, where he was to reinforce the US military and economic commitment to the region, and attend next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
However Najib Razak, Malaysian prime minister, said he had received a phone call from Mr Obama on Wednesday morning to say he could not come.
“I informed him that I understand the domestic situation in the United States which does not allow him to make an official visit now and, even if he did visit Malaysia, it would be questioned by the American community,” Mr Najib said in remarks quoted by Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency.
A spokesman for Mr Najib’s office told the Financial Times that the prime minister still hoped to meet Mr Obama at the Apec summit in Bali.
Teuku Faizasyah, the foreign relations adviser to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said that he was hopeful that Mr Obama would still come to Indonesia for the Apec leaders’ meetings on October 7 and 8.
“It’s in the US’ interest to be part of the Apec process because they have invested a lot in it,” he said. “We hope there won’t be any difficulties for President Obama to attend.”
The Obama administration has placed a huge emphasis on showing up at Asian events and this trip comes as it is trying to force the pace on Pacific trade talks. But it could look bad to travel while there is a political crisis at home – President Bill Clinton cancelled an Asia trip during the last shutdown.
This was to have been Mr Obama’s first visit to Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy. Lyndon Johnson, the former Democrat, was the last occupant of the White House to visit the country.
Malaysia is a key moderate Muslim ally for the US in the region, and a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which is trying to forge consensus on how to deal with China’s increasing military assertiveness in disputed waters in the South China Sea.
However US-Malaysia ties were recently refreshed with a visit by Mr Najib to the US last month.
Mr Najib met US companies in meetings organised by the US-Asean Business Council and in opened an office for Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah, in San Francisco.
Additional reporting Ben Bland in Jakarta
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.