Obama spoke at the end of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China, where he met with leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed issues including the worsening situation in Syria.
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Reuters said that Mr Putin said on Monday that an agreement with the United States on finding a way to significantly reduce the death toll in Syria could be reached in the next few days.
“Chinese officials say it’s America’s fault that President Obama had to awkwardly exit Air Force One as he arrived in China for the G20 summit meeting, Reuters reports”.
A second day of talks in China between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, ended Monday without a deal to announce. As the president was greeted by his Chinese hosts, Obama’s aides and journalists accompanying the president clashed with a Chinese official as they tried to watch the ceremony.
Obama, Xi and other leaders called during the meeting for governments to defend free trade. Any deal would depend on Moscow using its influence with Syrian President Bashar Assad to persuade the Syrian leader to ground planes and stop the assault on opposition forces. Obama and Putin huddled for 90 minutes on the sidelines of the G20, according to a senior White House official.
And though Obama shrugged off the comments from the “colorful” leader during his own news conference Monday, the White House later canceled his meeting with Duterte – and conferring instead with the President of South Korea. Obama said Sunday that the two sides still have “grave differences”, but there is still possibility “to make some progress”.
“We’ve had problems with cyber intrusions from Russian Federation in the past, from other countries in the past”, Obama said.
Obama said that he and Putin have had “productive conversations” about negotiating a “real cessation of hostilities” the war-torn Middle East Country, but that “gaps of trust” have prevented reaching an agreement. “And we’ll see in coming days whether on Syria we can reach a near-term agreement”.
Obama has made the 12-nation TPP the centerpiece of a diplomatic “pivot” to Asia, but the prospects for USA congressional approval have looked increasingly dim, with both major presidential candidates – Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump – standing opposed. The campaign has spurred a humanitarian crisis and caused millions of Syrians to flee for Europe.
The freakish rift with the leader of a USA treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the US are critical even if their values sharply diverge.
Obama has expressed skepticism that Russian Federation would honor its agreement.
“It is worth trying”, he said.
“If you look at the investment that there has been from China in various other parts of the United Kingdom and other infrastructure and so forth in the UK, we have built a global strategic partnership with China”.
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This week’s interaction between the two men could be a final attempt to salvage what’s become one of the most acrimonious relationships on the global stage. The Obama administration has sought to compartmentalize by arguing that military and other cooperation won’t be jeopardized even if it detests the current Philippine leader’s tone.
