U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has led the American delegation in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Bali and the East Asia Summit, which began over the weekend, The Associated Press reported. Kerry was in Tokyo for security talks, and learned early last week that he would be also be visiting Malaysia and the Philippines.
The secretary of state subbed in for Barack Obama, as the White House canceled the president's planned four-nation Asian tour, in order for him to solve the government shutdown, which has paralyzed Washington.
While in Asia, Kerry sought to reassure the U.S's trade partners that the partial government shutdown will not affect its long-term foreign engagement, and took time to blame lawmakers in Congress.
"It's not within Congress's power to prevent the shutdown, it is also within Congress's power to end it -to end it today," he said at the summit.
U.S. lawmakers "need to think long and hard about the message that we send to the rest of the world and we can't get our own act together. The impasse in Washington, "obviously undermines the president's ability to have the conversation he was going to have with President Xi. Or the meeting he was going to have with President Putin," Kerry added.
Mr. Obama's cancellation has been the talk of policy circles, Wall Street Journal reported.
Kerry said on Saturday he sought to emphasize the importance of Asia in the U.S. long-term interests. ""I'm not here for five hours. I'm not here for one day. I'm here for five days," he said. "I think that is a significant statement about the United States' presence, about the president's commitment."
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed regret by Obama's no-show at the APEC Summit:
"Obviously we prefer a US government that is working to one that is not. And we prefer a US president who is able to travel and fulfill his international duties to one who is preoccupied with national domestic affairs," the prime minister said
The APEC Summit ends on Thursday.
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