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President Obama in East Asia
President Obama’s first trip as president through East Asia was big news for our worldwide audience. The president spent nine days on the road, visiting Japan, the summit of Asia-Pacific nations in Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing in China, and Seoul in South Korea. VOA’s White House correspondent Paula Wolfson was with the president throughout, with support at the APEC meeting from VOA Bangkok correspondent Daniel Schearf and State Department correspondent David Gollust, who was traveling through Asia with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During Clinton’s stop in Manila, Gollust scored another of his one-on-one interviews with the secretary of state. Broadcasters from RFA’s Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tibetan services traveled with the press delegation covering President Obama’s trip to Asia. In China, after covering Obama’s town hall meeting, broadcasters interviewed several students who discussed cyber censorship in China and their hopes that Obama would advance China-U.S. relations.

RFA also highlighted President Obama’s meeting with President Hu Jintao, where he reiterated the U.S. position that Tibet is a part of China, but called for a resumption of talks between China and representatives of the Dalai Lama on the question of greater Tibetan autonomy.