US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Singapore on Friday for consultations with the city-state's leaders, ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit in Cambodia with President Barack Obama. While in Singapore, Clinton will meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Foreign Minister K Shanmugam and elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew, the US embassy said.
She will deliver a speech on Saturday on Washington's economic strategy before joining Obama for the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh. A senior US State Department official said earlier that Clinton hoped to get insights about China's new leaders from the Singaporeans, who enjoy close ties with Beijing.
"They have had the most interaction with China, so we're very interested to hear their perspectives with regard to the leadership transition that's under way in China and Beijing," the official told reporters. "We'll want to talk with them about how best to engage on critical issues upcoming at the East Asia Summit, including how to co-ordinate diplomacy on delicate matters like the South China Sea," the official stated.
China's relations with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been strained by rival territorial claims in the sea. Obama will also visit Thailand and Myanmar as part of his four-day trip to the region, his first foreign visit following his re-election on November 6.
The landmark trip will also be the first by a US president spent entirely in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War. It comes as part of Obama's effort to focus on the dynamic and largely US-friendly region in which there are concerns about a rising China. Obama on Monday will become the first sitting US president to visit Myanmar, a gesture aimed at encouraging further reforms in the country.