Edited and translated by People's Daily Online
The trip to the recent East Asia Summit proved worthwhile for U.S. President Barack Obama. Although the country's "return to Asia" strategy was not well received at the meeting, Obama was able to announce a massive 21.7-billion-U.S.-dollar order for 230 Boeing jets from Indonesia's largest domestic airline, Lion Air. The White House later said that Obama announced business deals worth at least 25 billion U.S. dollars during the trip, supporting around 127,000 U.S. jobs.
By contrast, China proposed at the summit to set up a 3-billion-yuan maritime cooperation fund between China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations to promote multi-level comprehensive maritime cooperation with the Southeast Asian nations. China announced in 2009 that it would provide 15 billion U.S. dollars in loans to support more than 50 infrastructure projects in almost all ASEAN countries.
This time, China decided to offer ASEAN another 10 billion U.S. dollars in loans, including a preferential loan of 4 billion U.S. dollars. In addition, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Nov. 18 that the country will offer 2 trillion yen, or more than 26 billion U.S. dollars, in aid for the development of infrastructure projects, such as airports and roads in ASEAN countries.
At present, the biggest challenge facing the United States is its sluggish economy, so China should pay greater attention to the economic measures of the superpower, which is actively seeking a "return" to Asia.
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