Proving to be as sticky as expected, Asia's feedback from Hillary Clinton's brief sojourn in the continent is being scrupulously considered, notes Gamal Nkrumah After shaking hands with Asia's most powerful leaders in front of the cameras, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not necessarily precocious. She was, after all, representing the mightiest nation in the august company of leaders of the world's most propitious continent. Clinton made her maiden voyage overseas to the Japanese capital Tokyo -- itself a gesture pregnant with promise. Sipping tea with the empress of Japan is no token gesture. Empress Michiko, the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family, personifies contemporary Japan with its unique blend of ancient and ultra-modern. Clinton, too, parted with tradition. She was the first American secretary of state to embark on a westward inaugural overseas trip -- to Asia as opposed to going eastwards to Europe or the Middle East. That highly symbolic move underpins the shift in the onus of American foreign policy priorities from Europe and the Middle East to Asia. It is a fresh and functional start. From the moment she stepped off her plane that crossed the Pacific Ocean, Clinton stressed that she was in Asia at the bidding of US President Barack Obama. In Asia, Clinton was poised and perfectly composed. She was no icy control queen. Long forgotten were the little white lies, the voice that quavered and eyes that reddened and welled up, pupils that dilated when she was reduced to tears. During the Democratic presidential nominee race she looked at times recklessly capricious in her understanding of the degree of exaggeration needed to push sentimentality over the edge. Not so in Asia -- there she played the dignified stateswoman. "Working together to deal with the multitude of issues that affect not only Asia, but the entire world, is a high priority of the Obama administration," Clinton declared. In passionate defence of her realm, Clinton sees herself as a new breed of freedom fighter. It is her first crack at diplomatic stardom overseas, but America's top diplomat appears to have put her demons behind her. To her Asian hosts she is some kind of fourth estate in the politics of her country -- Obama's self-aggrandising PR -- but as Burke observed "the more important of them all". Much more interesting is that Clinton seems willing to wait so confidently for her preoccupations to come into focus. There are plenty of reasons to do so apart from the conviction that she should. The fact that she lost the Democratic presidential nomination, but accepted a high-profile post in the Obama administration shows all this to be true but not very interesting. The most exciting reality is that Asia, and not Europe or the Middle East, is Washington's first priority. Asia, too, is in no hurry to cut loose from America. The first foreign leader to visit the White House since Obama took office was Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, who flew to Washington on Tuesday to a rapturous reception by the Obama administration. Japan is an ally after America's heart. "This early bilateral summit meeting, I believe, will indicate to the entire world that the first and the second economic powers in the world will together address the financial and economic difficulties that are confronting the world," extrapolated Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofume Nakasone. Clinton's week-long four-nation inaugural tour of Asia's giants was unprecedented. It might even prove to be a trendsetter. "She carries herself in a dignified and distinguished manner befitting that of the ideal vision of a president," wrote Editor-in-Chief of Asahi Shimbun, Japan's most distinguished daily, Yoichi Funabashi -- an allusion, perhaps, to Clinton's failed bid for the presidency. Asian pragmatism and practicality prevailed over American impetuousness. "However, the global economic crisis has taken a direct hit on Asian economies that have long been dependent on exports to the US," noted the Asahi Shimbun editor. "A hidden aim of her visit is the pursuit of possible future discussions with China," he added. "With China continuing to post double-digit annual growth in its military spending, a key point for the Obama administration in its arms control efforts will be whether China's nuclear weapons can be brought into any arms control regime," the Asahi Shimbun editor concluded. If Japan, Clinton's first Asia stop, was mandatory, then her last, China, was imperative. It was Indonesia that briefly emerged as a wild card. Angry protesters greeted her in greater numbers than in any other Asian destination. "Too often, development is regarded as peripheral to our larger foreign policy objectives. This will not be the case in the Obama administration. We will energetically promote development," Clinton clarified. Indonesia, of course, is by far the poorest of the four Asian giants in spite of its vast natural resource wealth. It is of crucial strategic importance. The ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has its headquarters in Indonesia. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy and most populous nation, is also the country with the most Muslims in the world. Indonesia has traditionally been embroiled in a delicate balancing act between its secular constitution and the religious instincts of its population. The vast archipelago is home to a bevy of fundamentalist Christian sects and militant Islamist groups. Periodic fighting erupts between members of the various rival belligerent faiths. But as far as Clinton was concerned, Indonesia has long been a model of Muslim moderation. "As I travel around the world over the next years, I will be saying to people: if you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity and women's rights can co-exist, go to Indonesia," Clinton told a group of women activists during her stopover in Jakarta. China, the last leg of Clinton's Asian tour, was perhaps the most challenging. "Change really does come from individual decisions, many millions of individual decisions, where someone stands up like [activist] Dr Gao Yaojie and says 'No, I am not going to be quiet,'" Clinton explained. "That is what we encourage," she emphasised. Gao, gynaecologist and AIDS activist, exposed the extent of the Chinese government implication in the spread of HIV/AIDS in Henan province, central China, after which she spent time under house arrest and is now ostracised. Prickly subjects were deftly handled. Sino-American military exchanges were suspended last October because the Bush administration notified the US Congress of its plans to sell arms worth $6.5 billion to Taiwan, including the Patriot anti-missile system and an E-21T airborne early-warning aircraft upgrading system. With China, the Obama administration's "three D's" -- defence, diplomacy and development came into full play. In China, Clinton met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People. She also attended Christian services at a state-sponsored church, feminist meetings with women's rights activists, and a web chat that included mostly young Chinese on the make. Clinton made clear her commitment to civil and religious rights. "Every society has challenges and problems and issues and obstacles and it is important that people like all of you continue to raise those and speak out," she told her enthused hosts. "Our pressing on human rights cannot interfere" with the yearning for true partnership and dialogue between America and Asia is characterised by mutual respect. To sum up, an alliance of moderates offers new hope for relations between Washington and its Asian political and economic partners.
