Barack Obama has arrived in China for the first in a series of international speeches and meetings with world leaders which have led some to dub him the “shadow president”.
The former president touched down in Shanghai yesterday for the first leg of the five-day tour, which will combine paid speeches with meetings
In Beijing, Obama will meet President Xi Jinping, just three weeks after President Trump met the Chinese premier at the conclusion of his own tour of Asia.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Obama will then travel to India, where he is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, five months after the Indian PM met President Trump on a visit to the US.
In past meetings, “Modi and Obama struck up a warm rapport,” and the years of the Obama administration saw a deepening of defence and trade ties between their nations, says Time.
However, this time their meeting will be philanthropic rather than political. The pair will attend an Obama Foundation event, where Obama is to address an audience of young Indian leaders.
Obama will end his tour with a stop in Paris, where he is scheduled to speak at another Obama Foundation leadership event. “Aides didn't rule out the possibility that he could also see President Emmanuel Macron,” says The Quint.
Although Obama is now a private citizen, “many foreign countries are still uncertain about Mr Trump's foreign policy and may look to his predecessor to help explain America's current direction,” says CBS.
The move has ruffled some feathers in conservative circles. Obama’s detractors criticised him for visiting three key US allies so soon after President Trump’s own visits, accusing Obama of trying to act as “shadow president”.
However, for Americans none too pleased with their current commander-in-chief and his unique brand of “Trumplomacy”, Obama’s return to the world stage was a nostalgic reminder of days past.
Some hoped that the former president - whose tenure saw the US grow in global esteem, which has since dropped under Trump - could help mend bridges with the country’s allies.
While others just wanted to turn back time:
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and non-coders alike are helping the app go viral
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
What would a credit card rate cap mean for you?the explainer President Donald Trump has floated the possibility of a one-year rate cap
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Trump backs off Greenland threats, declares ‘deal’Speed Read Trump and NATO have ‘formed the framework for a future deal,’ the president claimed
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Trump, Iran trade threats as protest deaths riseSpeed Read The death toll in Iran has surpassed 500
