Obama, Change And China, Part 1

The song stays the same
By Henry C K Liu

Foreign policy is fundamentally based on national interests that change only slowly and infrequently, except under crisis situations. Still, even in normal times, electoral changes of administration inevitably bring changes in style and nuance in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy within a context of continuity.

Yet the Barack Obama administration has come into power at a time of unprecedented and severe global financial and economic crises that have profound implications in US national interests and US position in a changing geo-economic-political world order. Crisis conditions that are crying out for change are enhancing the new president's ability to live up to his campaign slogan of "Obama for Change" not just domestically but also in foreign policy. The question is whether Obama's campaign for change can survive his politics of change.