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CNN’s Coverage of Hillary’s Trip to Asia

By SusanUnPC on February 16, 2009 at 5:12 PM in CNN, China, Japan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, State Department

[MSNBC's coverage is two stories down.]

CNN’s COVERAGE News story: Clinton heads to Asia on first state trip || STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Hillary Clinton will bypass Europe and travel to Asia on her maiden voyage overseas
  • U.S. Secretary of State Clinton to visit Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia
  • Trip illustrates Obama administration’s desire for a broader partnership with Asia
  • Trip also highlights commitment to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue

BELOW THE FOLD: “CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout talks with David Lampton of John Hopkins University about Hillary Clinton’s trip to Asia” … This is a great backgrounder video on all the historic and current issues and crises that Secretary Clinton will be covering in this trip that covers an array of complex matters, including her historic 1995 speech in Beijing on women’s rights … as well as snippets from the longer CNN news article …

FROM the CNN news article:

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (CNN) — Hillary Clinton says her first overseas trip to Asia as U.S. secretary of state is aimed at creating a “network of partners” to tackle problems that no nation can deal with alone, including the global economic crisis.

Hillary Clinton seeks improved relations with China, where she said the U.S. would renew military contacts.

En route to Asia on Sunday, Clinton told reporters that the economy would serve as the backdrop of her trip, and she intends to explain steps the United States is taking with its $787 billion stimulus bill. She said she will be “seeking cooperation on ways that we are going to work through these very difficult economic times.”

Clinton is slated to travel to Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia to discuss a range of issues, including mutual economic recovery, trade, the prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation and reversing the global warming trend.

The trip represents a departure from a diplomatic tradition under which the first overseas trip by the secretary of state in a new administration is to Europe.

Speaking at the New York-based Asia Society last week, Clinton said the Obama administration wants to “develop a broader and deeper” relationship with Asia, a region that has felt overlooked by the United States despite its growing global importance.

“It demonstrates clearly that our new administration wants to focus a lot of time and energy in working with Asian partners and all the nations in the Pacific region,” she said, “because we know that so much of our future depends upon our relationships there.” Watch David Lampton of John Hopkins University discuss Clinton’s trip »

On Sunday, she addressed North Korea’s nuclear program, which she’s called “the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia.” Clinton said the Obama administration is prepared to seek a permanent, stable peace with Pyongyang as long as its regime pursues disarmament and does not engage in aggression against neighboring South Korea. The United States has a “great openness and willingness to working with them,” she said. … [READ ALL.]