Obama courts Malaysia while nudging on rights

President Barack Obama nudged Malaysia today over its controversial handling of dissent but made clear Washington intended to deepen its friendship with a country it considers vital to US objectives in the Asia-Pacific.
Obama also offered continued US support in the search for missing flight MH370 as he held talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak, after which the two leaders declared the start of a warmer new era in relations.
"Today across a whole range of areas -- security, trade, and regional institutions -- we are working more closely than ever before," Obama said during a joint press conference, calling Malaysia "central" to stability in Southeast Asia.

During a trip that started in Japan and South Korea and finishes in the Philippines on Tuesday, Obama has reinforced US security support for regional allies alarmed by China's claims to vast maritime expanses around the region.
These include overlapping claims with Malaysia and others in the South China Sea.
But Obama was drawn into Malaysia's highly polarised politics during the press briefing with Najib, whose government is accused of stifling free expression and using courts and police to harass or jail opponents.

Obama said he stressed to Najib the importance of respecting dissent and ensuring rule of law and would "make sure that we are making progress on that front".

But with the trip's larger objectives clearly in mind, he also gave Najib political cover, noting what he called Malaysian "progress" on rights.
"I think the prime minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia still has some work to do, just like the United States still has some work to do," he said.
While intending to focus on Washington's "rebalance" of strategic and economic attention to Asia, Obama has repeatedly had to deal with foreign-policy crises elsewhere, particularly Ukraine.
Today he said new international sanctions set to come into force against Russia would send a message that it must stop its "provocation" in increasingly chaotic eastern Ukraine, where fears of a possible Russian military invasion are growing.

"So long as Russia continues down a path of provocation rather than trying to resolve this issue peacefully and de-escalate it, there are going to be consequences and those consequences will continue to grow," Obama said.
While in South Korea, Obama addressed signs that North Korea -- which he called a "pariah state" -- was preparing for a fourth atomic weapons test in defiance of the United Nations.