Trying to reassure allies and rivals, President Barack Obama billed himself Friday as 'America's first Pacific president,' promising the nations of Asia 'a new era of engagement with the world based on mutual interests and mutual respect.' 'America's first Pacific president'

TOKYO — Trying to reassure allies and rivals, President Barack Obama billed himself Saturday as "America’s first Pacific president," promising the nations of Asia "a new era of engagement with the world based on mutual interests and mutual respect."

Turning tough, Obama also said that the U.S. "will not be cowed by threats" from North Korea, which he said for decades "has chosen a path of confrontation and provocation, including the pursuit of nuclear weapons."


In a slap at President George W. Bush, Obama spoke of the importance of "multilateral organizations [that] can advance the security and prosperity of this region."

"I know that the United States has been disengaged from these organizations in recent years. So let me be clear: those days have passed,” Obama said during the first major address of a four-country Far East swing, which will continue from Japan to Singapore, China and South Korea. “As an Asia Pacific nation, the United States expects to be involved in the discussions that shape the future of this region, and to participate fully in appropriate organizations as they are established and evolve," Obama said.

The White House wants to signal U.S. re-engagement with Asia, and the speech was designed to provide an overture to Asia similar to the outreach to the Arab world in the president's famous Cairo address.

Obama spoke extensively of his own roots in the region – his birth in Hawaii, living in Indonesia as a boy, his mother spending nearly a decade working in the villages of Southeast Asia. “The Pacific rim has helped shape my view of the world,” Obama said, speaking in front of 14 alternating U.S. and Japanese flags.

On China, the region's emerging economic power, Obama made clear that "the United States does not seek to contain China, nor does a deeper relationship with China mean a weakening of our bilateral alliances."

"On the contrary, the rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations," he added. "And so in Beijing and beyond, we will work to deepen our Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and improve communication between our militaries."

He sought to strike a balanced tone, saying, "We will not agree on every issue, and the United States will never waver in speaking up for the fundamental values that we hold dear – and that includes respect for the religion and cultures of all people. Because support for human rights and human dignity is ingrained in America. But we can move these discussions forward in a spirit of partnership rather than rancor."

Obama told his Japanese audience that he was beginning his journey there in part because of "our common values — a belief in the democratic right of free people to choose their own leaders and realize their own dreams; a belief that made possible the election of both Prime Minister Hatoyama and myself on the promise of change."

"Since taking office, I have worked to renew American leadership and pursue a new era of engagement with the world based on mutual interests and mutual respect," he said. "And our efforts in the Asia Pacific will be rooted, in no small measure, through an enduring and revitalized alliance between the United States and Japan."

Obama appeared before a respectful, formally clad audience in the elegant Main Concert Hall of Suntory Hall. He was preceded on the stage by the white-tied Japanese Philharmonic, which played Mozart and Haydn.

"When I was a young boy," he recalled, "my mother brought me to Kamakura, where I looked up at that centuries-old symbol of peace and tranquility – the great bronze Amida Buddha. As a child, I was more focused on the matcha ice cream. But I have never forgotten the warmth and hospitality that the Japanese people showed a young American far from home."

"From my first days in office, we have worked to strengthen the ties that bind our nations," he said. "The first foreign leader that I welcomed to the White House was the prime minister of Japan, and for the first time in nearly fifty years, the first foreign trip by an American secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was to Asia, starting in Japan."

Obama concluded by declaring a "moment of renewal."

"There must be no doubt," he said. "As America’s first Pacific president, I promise you that this Pacific nation will strengthen and sustain our leadership in this vitally important part of the world."