The CSM reports:

Beijing - Completing a final lap of Asia, President Bush arrived here Thursday for the opening of the Summer Olympics. Earlier in the day, he chided the Olympic host for its curbs on religious freedom and human rights, but said the United States and China had built a "constructive relationship" during his tenure.

Many policymakers in the region, however, are looking ahead to the next White House occupant and how his agenda will ripple across the Pacific Ocean. The winning candidate will become the commander in chief of the dominant military power in the Asia-Pacific region at a time when US leadership on trade, aid, and security is seen as wavering.

Into the new president's in-box will go the need to juggle complex relations with a newly assertive China, while reassuring allies that the US security umbrella remains intact, say analysts. That includes much of Southeast Asia, whose sea lanes supply the bulk of oil imports to Asia's largest economies, including China.

"For most countries in Southeast Asia, though some say it more openly than others, the US is the most important security partner in the region, the key balancer in the region, and they won't want to see any lessening of that role," says Ian Storey, of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

To read more:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0808/p07s06-woap.html