Barack Obama wades into a noodle soup of Asian multilateral groups when he arrives in Singapore late on Friday in a policy of direct engagement with regional bodies that is intended to draw a line under the George W. Bush years.

But the new approach, which includes the first ever meeting between a US president and the heads of the 10-member Association of South East Asian nations, is also potentially hazardous. Since Burma is a member of Asean, Mr Obama will become the first US president to meet Thein Sein, prime minister of Burma, a senior member of the ruling junta.