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He will attend a meeting in Singapore of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and, while there, will meet with the leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Significantly, he plans to include the Prime Minister of Myanmar, or Burma, a country long shunned by Washington, in the meeting.

And President Obama plans to invite leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries to Washington next year to further strengthen ties with the region.

This decidedly confirms the declaration made in July by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who announced in Thailand when signing the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with ASEAN that the "United States is back in Southeast Asia."�

This is a region that had been somewhat neglected by the Bush...