Trip Sees Tests to U.S. Power
 
Obama is confronted with challenges to his Asian agenda on his final visit to the region
By Carol E. Lee
VIENTIANE, Laos-One of President Barack Obama's final turns on the international stage before leaving office spotlighted how some world leaders are testing the limits   of U.S.   power just
months before a new American administration.
From the moment Mr. Obama stepped off the plane in the lakeside city of Hang-zhou. China, through his meetings at an international summit in Laos, he has faced challenges to his policies and overall American authority in ways large and small.
Russian President Vladimir Putin left the Obama administration empty-handed after intense negotiations on a deal to reduce violence in Syria, North
Korea, the glaring setback in Mr. Obama's Asia policy, tested ballistic missiles. On Tuesday U.S. officials said Iran made yet another provocative move toward a U.S. Navy ship in the Persian Gulf.
Philippine President Ro-drigo Duterte made profane comments about Mr. Obama on the eve of their first meeting, leading the White House to cancel a sit-down with the leader of one of America's treaty allies. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey was
unexpectedly positive in public remarks about relations with the U.S., yet also challenged a core component of Mr. Obama's strategy against Islamic State extremists: backing Kurdish forces in Syria.
And while Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Mr. Obama for a lengthy one-on-
one meeting and cooperated with the U.S. on climate change, significant areas of tension between the two countries went unresolved.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said most of these developments "are just the latest installments of long-running-sagas," citing Russia and Syria, North Korea and differences between the U.S. and Turkey over the Kurds.
"They are all manifestations of what I would describe as a world in disarray," he said.
Given U.S. investments in Southeast Asia, and its massive military presence, "it's China that is trying to compete with U.S. influence in the region—not the other way round," said Ian Storey, a Southeast Asia expert at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
"That's  not  to  say  that
Southeast Asian countries aren't eager to attract Chinese money," he added. "But when you're throwing your weight around the South China Sea, I think there's a limit as to how much influence and reassurance you can buy."
And to be sure, there have been bright spots during Mr. Obama's trip to Asia this week, the last one he said he would make as president.
In China, Messrs. Obama and Xi announced new efforts to address climate change. Each country formally adopted the international climate-change deal reached in Paris in December and a road map for talks on reducing emissions in commercial aircraft and phasing out hydrofluoro-carbons. which are linked to climate change.
The president also pledged to double aid to Laos to help clean up unexploded ordnance left over from the Vietnam War—to $90 million over the next three years. Unexploded bombs dropped by American planes decades ago have killed
or maimed thousands of Laotians since the war.
Still, there was a sense that as Mr. Obama enters the autumn of his second term, concerns are rising that the VS. is losing  its  ability  to  shape
events in Asia.
"There is a great power shift taking place," said Bil-veer Singh, an associate professor and an expert in international relations at the National University of Singa-
pore. "We're basically talking about the rise of China and the decline or recession of the United States."
Mr. Obama's focus on Asia has been substantial as he implemented his policy of rebal-
ancing relations in the region through engagement with China while also countering its influence by focusing on other countries in the region.
The president's advisers say his approach has given the U.S. more, not less, influence in the region than when he entered the White House, pointing to deeper commercial ties and a larger US. military presence in the region.
"U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific has increased, and we have climbed back from the substantial damage that the Iraq war and the financial crisis did to America's standing," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national-security adviser.
"There is a natural evolution in the global power dynamic that has been taking place for decades as China and other nations have, risen," he said. "But we have focused on strengthening the institutions, international norms and global cooperation in ways that extend U.S. leadership."
—Ben Otto and Trefor Moss contributed to this article.