United States presidential visits to Southeast Asia

There have been twenty-four United States presidential visits to Southeast Asia by ten U.S. presidents. Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first incumbent president to visit a Southeast Asian country when he visited the Philippines in 1960. Since then, every president, except John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, has travelled to the region. The Philippines, a former U.S. colony (1902–1946) and a close U.S. ally, is the most visited Southeast Asian country with ten visits, followed by Indonesia with nine, and Vietnam with eight. Of the eleven sovereign states in the region, all but East Timor have been visited by a sitting American president.

Mainland and Maritime Southeast Asia (both highlighted dark green)

Table of visits
President Dates Countries Locations Key details
Dwight D. Eisenhower[1] June 14–16, 1960  Philippines Manila State visit. Met with President Carlos P. Garcia.
Lyndon B. Johnson[2] October 24–26, 1966 Manila,
Los Baños,
Corregidor		 Attended the Manila Summit Conference on the Vietnam War.[3]
October 26, 1966  South Vietnam Cam Ranh Bay Visited U.S. military personnel.[4]
October 27–30, 1966  Thailand Bangkok State visit. Met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
October 30–31, 1966  Malaysia Kuala Lumpur State visit. Met with Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
December 23, 1967  Thailand Khorat Visited US. military personnel.
December 23, 1967  South Vietnam Cam Ranh Bay Visited U.S. military personnel.
Richard Nixon[5] July 26–27, 1969  Philippines Manila State visit. Met with President Ferdinand Marcos.
July 27–28, 1969  Indonesia Jakarta State visit. Met with President Suharto.
July 28–30, 1969  Thailand Bangkok State visit. Met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
July 30, 1969  South Vietnam Saigon,
Dĩ An		 Met with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Visited U.S. military personnel.
Gerald Ford[6] December 4–5, 1975  Indonesia Jakarta Official visit. Met with President Suharto.
December 6–7, 1975  Philippines Manila Official visit. Met with President Ferdinand Marcos.
Ronald Reagan[7] April 29 – May 2, 1986  Indonesia Bali Attended the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting. Met with President Suharto and Philippine Vice President Salvador Laurel.
George H. W. Bush[8] January 3–5, 1992  Singapore Singapore Met with President Wee Kim Wee and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Attended an ASEAN Business Council meeting.
Bill Clinton[9] November 12–13, 1994  Philippines Manila,
Corregidor		 State visit. Met with President Fidel V. Ramos. Visited Corregidor Island.
November 13–16, 1994  Indonesia Jakarta,
Bogor		 State visit. Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bogor.
November 24–25, 1996  Philippines Manila,
Subic Bay		 Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. Met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.[10]
November 25–26, 1996  Thailand Bangkok State visit. Met with Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa. Received an honorary degree and delivered a speech at Chulalongkorn University.[11]
November 14–16, 2000  Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.
November 16–19, 2000  Vietnam Hanoi,
Tien Chau,
Ho Chi Minh City		 Met with President Trần Đức Lương, Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải and Communist Party General Secretary Lê Khả Phiêu. Visited the Temple of Literature and the Tien Chau village in Hanoi. Viewed a cultural performance at the Hanoi Opera House. Delivered speeches at the Vietnam National University and Saigon Port.[12]
George W. Bush[13] October 18–19, 2003  Philippines Manila State visit. Addressed a joint session of the Congress of the Philippines. Met with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.[14]
October 19–21, 2003  Thailand Bangkok Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.
October 21–22, 2003  Singapore Singapore Official visit. Met with President S. R. Nathan and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.[15]
October 22, 2003  Indonesia Bali Met with President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Islamic religious leaders. Paid respects to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings and the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing.[16]
November 16–17, 2006  Singapore Singapore Official visit. Met with Acting President J. Y. Pillay and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.[17] Delivered a speech at the National University of Singapore.[18]
November 17–20, 2006  Vietnam Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh City		 Official visit. Met with President Nguyễn Minh Triết, Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and Communist Party General Secretary Nông Đức Mạnh. Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. Visited the Cửa Bắc Church, the Museum of Vietnamese History, Institut Pasteur, and the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.[19]
November 20, 2006  Indonesia Jakarta,
Bogor		 Met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Bogor Palace.[20]
August 6–7, 2008  Thailand Bangkok Met with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and King Bhumibol Adulyadej.[21][22] Dined with Burmese activists involved in the 8888 Uprising.[23]
Barack Obama[24] November 14–15, 2009  Singapore Singapore Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. Met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.[25]
November 9–10, 2010  Indonesia Jakarta Met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Delivered a speech at the University of Indonesia. Visited the Istiqlal Mosque.[26]
November 17–20, 2011 Bali Attended the Sixth East Asia Summit. Met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.[27]
November 18–19, 2012  Thailand Bangkok Met with King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at the Government House of Thailand. Toured Wat Pho.[28]
November 19, 2012 Myanmar Myanmar (Burma) Yangon Met with President Thein Sein, National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of Burmese civil society organizations. Delivered a speech at the University of Yangon.[29][30]
November 19–20, 2012  Cambodia Phnom Penh Met with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Attended the Seventh East Asia Summit, a U.S.-ASEAN Leaders' meeting, and a meeting with Trans-Pacific Partnership leaders.[31]
April 26–28, 2014  Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Met with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdul Halim, and Prime Minister Najib Razak. Participated in a town hall meeting with young Southeast Asian leaders at the University of Malaya.[32][33]
April 28–29, 2014  Philippines Manila,
Taguig		 State visit. Met with President Benigno Aquino III.[34] Conferred the Order of Sikatuna.[35] Met with U.S. and Philippine troops and delivered remarks at Fort Bonifacio.[36] Laid a wreath and toured the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.[37]
November 12–14, 2014 Myanmar Myanmar (Burma) Naypyidaw,
Yangon		 Attended the Ninth East Asia Summit and the U.S.-ASEAN summit meeting in Naypyidaw. Met with President Thein Sein, National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, members of the Assembly of the Union, House of Representatives Speaker Shwe Mann, House of Nationalities Speaker Khin Aung Myint, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. Participated in a town hall meeting with young Southeast Asian leaders at the University of Yangon. Toured the Ministers' Building. Also participated in a round table discussion with Burmese civil society organizations.[38][39]
November 17–20, 2015  Philippines Manila Attended the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. Met with President Benigno Aquino III, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.[40][41] Also met with Trans-Pacific Partnership and Pacific Alliance leaders.[42] Toured the BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) and announced the U.S. government's donation of the research vessel RV Melville and the USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719) to the Philippine Navy.[43] Participated in the APEC 2015 CEO Summit with Alibaba founder Jack Ma and SALt lamp inventor Aisa Mijeno.[44]
November 20–22, 2015  Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Attended the Tenth East Asia Summit and the U.S.-ASEAN summit meeting. Visited refugees (mostly Rohingya refugees) at the Dignity for Children Foundation refugee center.[45] Participated in a town hall meeting with young Southeast Asian leaders at Taylor's University.[46] Also participated in a round table meeting with Malaysian civil society groups at the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur.[47] Met with Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
May 22–25, 2016  Vietnam Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh City		 Met with President Trần Đại Quang, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Communist Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng. Visited the Jade Emperor Pagoda.
September 6–8, 2016  Laos Vientiane Met with General Secretary and President Bounnhang Vorachith. Attended the Eleventh East Asia Summit and the U.S.–ASEAN summit meeting.[48]
Donald Trump November 10–12, 2017  Vietnam Da Nang,
Hanoi		 State visit.[49] Attended the APEC Vietnam 2017 in Da Nang.[50][51] Met with President Trần Đại Quang, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Communist Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.
November 12–14, 2017  Philippines Manila,
Pasay		 Attended the 31st ASEAN Summit. Met with President Rodrigo Duterte.[52]
June 10–12, 2018  Singapore Central Area, Sentosa Island Attended the first North Korea–United States summit with North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un. Also met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
February 26–28, 2019  Vietnam Hanoi Attended the second North Korea–United States summit with North Korean chairman Kim Jong Un. Also met with General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng and Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.
Joe Biden November 12–13, 2022  Cambodia Phnom Penh Attended the U.S.–ASEAN Summit and the Seventeenth East Asia Summit at Sokha Hotel. Met with Prime Minister Hun Sen, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.[53]
November 13–16, 2022  Indonesia Bali Attended the 2022 G20 summit. Met with President Joko Widodo, Chinese President Xi Jinping, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.[53]
September 10–, 2023  Vietnam Hanoi Met with President Võ Văn Thưởng, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

See also

References
  1. "Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  2. "Travels of President Lyndon B. Johnson". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  3. "Manila Summit Conference, 1966". VietnamWar.govt.nz. Government of New Zealand. September 12, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  4. "The President's Daily Diary: October 26, 1966". Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  5. "Travels of President Richard M. Nixon". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  6. "Travels of President Gerald R. Ford". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  7. "Travels of President Ronald Reagan". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  8. "Travels of President George H. W. Bush". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  9. "Travels of President William J. Clinton". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  10. "Clinton arrives in Philippines for trade summit". CNN. November 23, 1996. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  11. "Thailand: US President Clinton signs taxation treaty". Associated Press. November 26, 1996. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  12. "President Clinton Visit to Vietnam November 16 – 19, 2000". U.S.–Vietnam Trade Council. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  13. "Travels of President George W. Bush". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  14. Reynolds, Maura (October 19, 2003). "Bush speeds through Manila". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  15. "MFA Press Statement: Visit to Singapore by US President George W Bush, 21-22 October 2003". Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. October 20, 2003. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  16. "Bush heaps praise on Megawati". CNN. October 20, 2003. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  17. "Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Statement - Visit to Singapore by US President George W Bush, 16-17 November 2006". Embassy of Singapore, Washington, D.C. November 12, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  18. "Text: President George W. Bush's speech in Singapore - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune". The New York Times. October 16, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  19. "President Bush visits Vietnam". Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States of America. November 2003. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  20. Sanger, David E. (November 21, 2006). "Bush Ends Trip at Careful Stop in Indonesia". The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  21. "Remarks by President George W. Bush in Bangkok, Thailand". The New York Times. August 7, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  22. Ehrlich, Richard S. (August 8, 2008). "Bush In Bangkok Blasts Burma & China". Scoop. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  23. "Bush's Thailand trip turns heat on Myanmar". Reuters. August 6, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  24. "Travels of President Barack Obama". Office of the Historian. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  25. "Obama in Singapore for economic summit". CNN. November 15, 2009. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  26. "Barack Obama visits Indonesia". The Guardian. November 9, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  27. "Obama in Bali for East Asia Summit". Voice of America. November 16, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  28. "Obama discovers why it's called 'Land of Smiles': President and Thailand's prime minister do their bit for Thai-U.S. relations". National Post. November 19, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  29. "US President Obama hails Burma's 'remarkable journey'". BBC News. November 19, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  30. "Obama lauds Aung San Suu Kyi, gives a nod to Myanmar". CNN. November 19, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  31. "Obama becomes first US president to go to Cambodia". Fox News. Associated Press. November 19, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  32. "Barack Obama visits Malaysia with economy and security on agenda". The Guardian. Associated Press. April 26, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  33. Sethi, Karam Singh (May 4, 2014). "Could Obama Inspire Young Malaysians?". The Diplomat. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  34. Gutierrez, Natashya (April 28, 2014). "Obama arrives in Manila for 2-day state visit". Rappler. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  35. Tan, Kimberly Jane (April 28, 2014). "PNoy confers highest diplomatic honor on Obama". GMA News and Public Affairs. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  36. Bacani, Louis (April 29, 2014). "Obama: US has 'ironclad' commitment to defend Philippines". The Philippine Star. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  37. Eilperin, Juliet (April 29, 2014). "Obama cites legacy of U.S.-Philippine cooperation as he concludes Asia trip". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  38. Lederman, Josh (November 13, 2014). "Obama returns to Myanmar as country struggles with democratic transition". PBS NewsHour. Associated Press. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  39. Kyaw Phyo Tha (November 14, 2014). "Obama Visits Site of Burmese Independence in Rangoon". The Irrawaddy. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  40. "Obama, Abe to meet in Philippines on Nov. 19 on APEC fringes". The Nikkei. November 13, 2015. Archived from the original on November 15, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  41. "Obama to meet Turnbull in Manila". Business Spectator. News Corp Australia. November 13, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  42. Young, Audrey (November 19, 2015). "APEC summit: Obama backs Trans Pacific Partnership". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  43. Gagalac, Ron (November 17, 2015). "Obama: US to give 2 more ships to PH". ABS-CBNnews.com. ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  44. Nelson, Colleen McCain (November 17, 2015). "Obama Urges CEOs to Fight Climate Change at APEC Summit". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  45. Memoli, Michael A. (November 21, 2015). "At refugee center in Malaysia, Obama calls on U.S. to welcome the 'forgotten'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  46. Au, Eunice (November 21, 2015). "Obama holds dialogue with Asean youth". The Straits Times. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  47. "Obama meets Malaysian civil society groups". The Star. November 21, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  48. "Obama to travel to Laos in 2016; 1st US president to visit". The New Zealand Herald. Associated Press. November 5, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
  49. "US President Donald Trump to pay State visit to Vietnam". en.nhandan.com.vn. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  50. Pham, My (April 1, 2017). "Trump sends letter to Vietnam's president to promote ties". Reuters. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  51. "Trump's Asia visit leaves China stronger".
  52. "Trump says to spend extra day in Philippines during Asia trip". Reuters. November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  53. "Statement by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on President Biden's Travel to North Africa and Asia and Vice President Harris's Travel to Asia". White House. October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.