U.S. Defense chief Hagel postpones visits to Vietnam, Myanmar

[BoQ77]

U.S. Defense chief Hagel postpones visits to Vietnam, Myanmar
WASHINGTON Tue Nov 4, 2014 1:53pm EST

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel participates in the Washington Ideas Forum, in Washington October 29, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

(Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has postponed a visit to Myanmar and Vietnam this month due to scheduling issues, including upcoming congressional hearings, a Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

Hagel had been expected to visit the Southeast Asian countries in the middle to the month.

He had been expected to attend a meeting of defense ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Myanmar, while the Vietnam leg was a bilateral visit following a U.S. decision to relax a long-standing U.S. arms embargo on Hanoi.

"The decision to postpone the trip was driven by new and significant demands being placed on the Secretary's schedule, to include upcoming congressional hearings," a Pentagon official said.

"It would be pure fallacy to derive any other meaning from this postponement," the official said, adding that Hagel looked forward to rescheduling the trip.

Hagel's visit to Asia would have followed on from trips to the region by President Barack Obama to attend the Asia Pacific Cooperation forum and East Asia summits, and by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The United States has been working hard to boost defense ties with ASEAN countries in the face of a rising China, which has been increasingly assertive in its territorial claims in the region.

Last month, nearly 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War, the United States partially lifted a ban on lethal weapon sales to Vietnam, which has been sharply at odds with China over rival claims in the South China Sea.

 

[BoQ77]

Hagel Puts Off High-Profile Trip to Vietnam and Myanmar

• BY David Francis , Gopal Ratnam
• NOVEMBER 3, 2014 - 05:51 PM

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's upcoming and highly anticipated trip to Myanmar and Vietnam has been postponed, according to a defense official, potentially fueling regional fears that Washington is turning its back on Asia to focus more on Europe and the Middle East.

The trip has been pushed back to early next year because the 10-day-long trip clashed with planned congressional hearings, one defense official said. Hagel was set to travel to the region in mid-November.

The visit to Vietnam also was of personal significance to Hagel -- who was wounded in the war there -- and he didn't want the trip there to be overtaken by the ongoing crisis in Iraq and Syria, the official said. It's not clear why the defense secretary made the decision to push off the trip now given that the fight against the Islamic State has been raging for many months.

The cancellation comes as American allies in the region are growing increasingly concerned that the administration's long-planned pivot to Asia has stalled. Writing for Foreign Policy in 2011, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the United States would shift its foreign affairs focus from Iraq and Afghanistan and toward the Far East.

"One of the most important tasks of American statecraft over the next decade will therefore be to lock in a substantially increased investment -- diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise -- in the Asia-Pacific region," Clinton wrote.

However, after the article was published the political fight over Obamacare kept the president's attention at home. On the foreign-policy front, Obama is now consumed with the fight against the Islamic State, keeping his attention in Syria and Iraq.

In the past, the Pentagon has taken steps toward refocusing on the Asian Pacific. High-ranking defense officials, including Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, have both visited Vietnam. Secretary of State John Kerry has also paid more diplomatic attention to the region during the president's second term.

However, as China became embroiled in a number of territorial disputes with neighbors this past summer, leaders of American allies in the region began loudly calling on the White House to do more. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, for instance, asked the United States to provide a "stronger voice" against China after confrontations between coast guard vessels near a Chinese oil rig located in contested waters off the coast of Vietnam.

Obama is still scheduled to visit the region later this month when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Beijing, the East Asia Summit in Myanmar, and the G-20 meeting in Australia. The trip sparked an outcry among cash-strapped media organizations when the White House told reporters that flights on the press charter plane trailing Air Force One from country to country would cost a jaw-dropping $60,000 per person.

 

[alaungphaya]

I saw this aswell in Burmese media. I don't think it's a big deal. It was never publicly announced and he will be back.

 

[bolo]

Looks like US have second thought regarding relaxing arms sales to Vietnam.

 

[BoQ77]

Looks like US have second thought regarding relaxing arms sales to Vietnam.

I think your guess not true. Any US official must give priority to hearing his/her people first.

 

[alaungphaya]

It was nothing to do with policy. He was under pressure.

US defence secretary Chuck Hagel 'to step down'
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Chuck Hagel will resign as US defence secretary after less than two years in the top military post, US media report.

President Barack Obama is expected to confirm his resignation in a White House address later on Monday morning.

Mr Hagel, 68, a Vietnam war veteran and former senator, became defence secretary in 2013.

Last month, it was reported that he was sharply critical of the US strategy against Islamic State and in relation to the Syria regime.

He is expected to stay on as secretary until his successor is confirmed.

An unnamed official told the Associated Press news agency that Mr Hagel and Mr Obama both "determined that it was time for new leadership in the Pentagon" and had been discussing the move for weeks.

The New York Times reported that Mr Obama had asked Mr Hagel to step down after the defence secretary opened up discussions of his leaving.

Hagel's 58-41 confirmation was the narrowest ever vote margin for a Pentagon nominee
Analysis, Jon Sopel, North America Editor

Chuck Hagel is a friendly, no-nonsense defence secretary. He was also the one Republican in the White House national security set-up.

But that may be of lesser importance than him being appointed to do one task in the Pentagon, only to find that the job description has changed fundamentally.

He was the man appointed to bring the troops home and pare back the huge defence budget. But then Islamic State came along and all the calculations changed, and Mr Obama and his defence chief found themselves at odds.

There was a lack of clear strategy, perhaps because Mr Obama and Mr Hagel didn't agree on what it should be. And after mid-term political defeats, the president needs a military win. So a change at the top will be an important symbol of that determination.

Which of course leaves the question, did he jump or was he pushed? Probably a bit of both.

Mr Hagel, who served as Republican senator for his home state of Nebraska for 12 years, became critical of US involvement in Iraq despite voting to authorise the war.

He replaced Leon Panetta as defence secretary in Mr Obama's second term, taking on the task of winding down the Afghanistan war and making a military shift towards Asia.

But the future of US military policy has changed amid air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.

"The next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus," an unnamed White House official told the New York Times.

US media report there was increasing tension between Mr Hagel and the administration over decisions in Syria and working styles, citing Hagel confidantes and senior defence officials.

Mr Obama is not expected to announce a nominee to replace Mr Hagel on Monday. Once named, the nominee would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

 

[A.M.]

Next liked the guy from a personality stand point. In addition, the US foreign policy has been unclear and somewhat of a disaster recently. Let's see who is appointed next.