After defeat at home, Obama heads overseas looking for success

BEIJING -- Days after voters changed the balance of power in Washington, President Obama set off on a three-country tour of Asia to burnish the U.S. image abroad as his own party suffered defeat at home. The eight-day trip takes him to China, Myanmar and Australia where he'll attend a series of economic forums and come face to face with world leaders, both friend and foe.

CHINA

Trade will be a focus throughout the trip and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is the president's first stop in Beijing. He'll be joined by 20 heads of state whose economies account for more than half of the world's economic output.

The president will address a group of CEOs and hold a meeting with leaders of 12 nations who will form the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement that is not expected to been finalized until after the trip. The TPP includes Pacific powers like Japan and South Korea. However, China -- the country with the world's largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund -- is notably excluded from the alliance.

"This is a top priority for the United States," National Security Advisor Susan Rice said of the TPP. "It's an agreement that, if achieved and ratified, will benefit the American people and the American economy."

Senate Republicans have signaled a willingness to work together with the White House on trade issues, and finalizing elements of the TPP will likely require a vote from Congress.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will welcome the president for an official state visit where the two men will have several opportunities to address a raft of issues that divide the two countries - climate change, human rights, cybersecurity and territorial disputes. Whether these issues come up in their discussions remains to be seen.

The Chinese ruling party has been skeptical of the president's policies in Asia, which it views as a move to isolate China from its neighbors and limit China's growing influence. The visit also comes at a time when President Obama is dealing with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the Middle East and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

"I think that consensus is growing that there's going to be more viscosity, more tension with China over the next few years... [The president's visit is] coming at a time when the administration has a lot going on in other parts of the world," said Michael Green of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Factories within 125 miles of the Chinese capital have been shuttered for days in advance of the president's visit in an effort to cut down on air pollution. A reading taken early Monday showed air quality in the unhealthy range. The Chinese government has also ordered cars off the road and some travel agencies are offering discounted vacation packages to encourage people to leave Beijing during the president's visit.

At the conclusion of the state visit, Xi and Mr. Obama will make statements to the press, but the Chinese government has barred reporters from asking questions.

MYANMAR

In Napyidaw, Myanmar -- also called Burma -- Mr. Obama will join an array of South East Asian and Pacific Rim leaders at the East Asia and ASEAN summits. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the president has a better attendance record in Asia than his predecessors.

In addition to trade and the potential TPP agreement, the White House says the president will use this opportunity to discuss a range of topics, from maritime territorial disputes to regional action on international issues like ISIS and Ebola.

The timing of Mr. Obama's visit to Myanmar is also significant.

Next year, Myanmar will hold its first major general elections since 1990. After 40 years of isolationism, Myanmar's ruling military leaders have begun to loosen their tight grip over the country. The president will meet with Burmese President Thein Sein and, according to the White House, "underscore the United States' commitment to the protection of human rights, tolerance and pluralism, as well as sustaining and deepening the democratic transition."

The president will then fly to Yangon (formerly Rangoon) to meet with opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. One of the U.S. priorities in Myanmar is convincing the controlling party to change the national constitution before 2015.

Suu Kyi is ineligible to run for the presidency because the Burmese constitution bars anyone who is married to a foreign national or has foreign-born children from seeking the office. Suu Kyi and her late husband raised their two children in the UK.

After the meeting, President Obama will hold a civil society roundtable with a group of young leaders from around the region.

AUSTRALIA

Heads of state from 26 nations will converge upon Brisbane, Australia for the G-20 summit -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin. As of now, there is no planned meeting between Mr. Obama and Putin, but Rice said she wouldn't be surprised if the two leaders "had some informal communication" on the margins of the summit.

Russia and the U.S. have had disagreed fiercely over the continued presence of Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine and Moscow's annexation of Crimea. The last time the two leaders met was during the D-Day Anniversary Celebrations in France over the summer.

The United States won't be the only nation engaged in frosty interactions with Russia.

The Australian delegation has said that it plans to take Russia to task for the Malaysian Air Jetliner that went down over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that he will confront Putin about the MH17 crash during the APEC summit in Beijing. The two leaders will come face-to-face again just days later during the G-20 on Abbott's home turf.