Obama’s visit to Luang Prabang in mountainous northern Laos showcased a rich cultural and religious heritage that many in the West know little about.
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Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes is scheduled to meet with Sombath’s wife Shui Meng Ng on Thursday while Obama is still in the country. The president spoke at length and was in his element as he took questions from members of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI).
“What they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me”, Obama said at a rally in Union, Missouri.
“We’re in a political season now, and it’s always hard to get things done”, he said. After calling Americans “lazy” twice, once in reference to acting on climate change, he said that Laos has the “youngest population” and the fastest growing economy, which Americans could in fact learn from. Not everybody in America agrees with me on this, by the way. “I’ll leave it at that”.
A university student named Sounthorn, who attended the town-hall meeting, told RFA’s Laos Service he was happy that Obama had visited an undeveloped country and called his speech inspirational.
He is also due to attend an annual global gathering in the Southeast Asian region.
In America, a number of people were angry with Obamas comments, especially after he commended Laos for its fast-growing economy and said the United States could learn from the small island country.
LUANG Prabang – US president Barack Obama linked his country’s Olympic prowess to its racial and ethnic diversity, as he urged young Southeast Asians to support inclusive societies.
U.S. President Barack Obama is given flowers as he arrives on Air Force One at the Luang Prabang International Airport, in Luang Prabang, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, en route to Wat Xieng Thong Buddhist Temple in Luang Prabang, Laos.
“I am so very proud that he is the president of the United States of America but he also cares about youth to be the priority to develop the country”, she said.
Obama arrived in Laos Tuesday morning (September 6), becoming the first sitting US president to visit landlocked Laos, where the United States waged a “secret war” while fighting in Vietnam, dropping an estimated two million tonnes of bombs on the country. Obama says the USA dropped some 270 million cluster bombs, including 80 million that never exploded and remain a threat. A UNESCO World Heritage List site along the Mekong River, the city was a hub for the Buddhist faith during the Lan Xang kingdom starting in the 14th century.
“For the last four decades, Laotians have continued to live under the shadow of war”, Mr Obama said.
Touring a rehabilitation center in Vientiane, the capital, Obama touted his administration’s move to double spending on ordinance cleanup to roughly $90 million over three years. “The war did not end when the bombs stopped falling”.
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“I’m inspired by you”, Obama told Thoummy Silamphan, a survivor who uses a prosthetic after losing a hand to one of the bombs.
