Clinton expected to visit Indonesia this month

The Jakarta Post,  Jakarta | Tue, 02/03/2009 9:16 PM  

Hillary Clinton is expected to visit Indonesia next month as part of her maiden trip as U.S. secretary of state, diplomats said.

Vice President Joe Biden (right) extends his hand to congratulate Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton following her ceremonial swearing-in at the Sate Department, Monday, in Washington. Joining Clinton is her husband, former President Bill Clinton (second from left) their daughter Chelsea Clinton (third from left) and Secretary Clinton's mother Dorothy Rodham, partially obscured at right. (AP/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

 

According to Reuters, the diplomats said Clinton's visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, during her Asia trip would fit with President Obama's efforts to restore U.S. relations with the Muslim world. 

Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, said in his inaugural address he sought a new way forward with the Muslim world "based on mutual interest and mutual respect." 

The diplomats, who spoke on condition they not be identified because the State Department has yet to announce the trip, cautioned that Clinton's schedule could change, but mentioned that China, Japan and South Korea were also on Clinton's travel agenda. 

The stalled multilateral effort to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions is likely to be a major feature of Clinton's talks in the region, as is the global financial crisis. 

North Korea's nuclear program is among the most vexing of a series of foreign policy challenges that U.S. President Barack Obama inherited from former President George W. Bush. 

Pyongyang agreed in 2005 to abandon its nuclear programs under a deal struck by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States but it then tested a nuclear device in 2006. 

The secretive, communist state subsequently reached more detailed pacts to dismantle its plutonium-based nuclear program but it has balked at allowing extensive inspections that would allow the United States to verify its actions. 

Clinton has praised the six-party talks, which allow the United States to try to leverage the influence of the other parties -- notably China -- to reward North Korea for steps toward denuclearization and to punish it for backsliding. 

However, it is unclear how the Obama administration plans to get North Korea back on track with the aid-for-disarmament deal or whether it may consider a more intense bilateral dialogue as a way to do so.

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