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High expectations among world leaders

Taro Aso

SINGAPORE: Barack Obama’s triumph has been greeted with high expectations among political leaders and visions of a new wave of history among the people across East Asia. Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso hailed Mr. Obama’s “able leadership” and emphasised the special ties between their countries.

“The Japan-U.S. alliance is the linchpin of Japanese diplomacy and the cornerstone for peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region,” he said. Mr. Aso pledged to work with Mr. Obama to address issues of “international economy, terrorism and the environment.”

The theme of a different kind of exclusive ties between the U.S. and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was emphasised in the separate greetings from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Thailand’s Prime Minister and ASEAN chairman, Somchai Wongsawat.

Mr. Lee, “making a case for the importance of Southeast Asia to the U.S.,” said this geopolitical zone “is happily not a problem region” for Washington.

Lee Hsien Loong

Mr. Obama’s “familiarity” with Southeast Asia dates back to his childhood association with Indonesia for a brief period; and the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, expressed the hope the ties between their two countries could now enter “a new phase.”

Mr. Somchai described Thailand as “a treaty ally and a long-time friend” of the U.S., and pledged to work for “a more vigorous and fruitful U.S.-ASEAN partnership.” Indirectly alluding to his current efforts to keep Thailand on a democratic course, he said the people of his country watched “this exciting election campaign [in the U.S.] with great interest.”

Vladimir Radyuhin reports from Moscow:

Hours after the U.S. elected Barack Obama as President, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, in his first state-of-the-nation address on Wednesday voiced hope that Mr. Obama would opt for good relations with Russia.

Dmitry Medvedev

“We have no problem with the American people, we have no engrained anti-Americanism,” he said.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram of congratulations to Mr. Obama to hail the “historic occasion” of his election, said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.

The pontiff expressed to Mr. Obama “his blessing so that God will support him and the American people, and that all people of goodwill can work to build a world of peace, solidarity and justice,” said Mr. Lombardi.