Contact: Jessica Smith – 202-228-5185
Thursday, August 6, 2009 Kimberly Hunter – 202-228-5258
Webb to Visit Five Asian Nations, Including Burma, as Chairman of
Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia & Pacific Affairs
Trip to Focus on Opportunities to Advance U.S. Interests in the Region
Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) will embark Sunday on a two week, five nation tour of Asia to explore opportunities to advance US interests in Burma and the region. Webb was named chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February.
Senator Webb will be the first United States Member of Congress to visit the nation of Burma in more than ten years. He will also hold meetings with government representatives and industry leaders in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Webb has enjoyed a continuous personal involvement in Asian and Pacific affairs that long predates his time in the Senate. In addition to his more recent visits as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Webb has worked and traveled throughout this vast region, from Micronesia to Burma, for nearly four decades, as a Marine Corps officer, a defense planner, a journalist, a novelist, a Department of Defense executive, and as a business consultant.
As chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, Webb oversees US relations with countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Rim, and Oceana. The subcommittee also oversees regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Webb’s chaired a subcommittee hearing on July 15 to examine China’s role in maritime territorial disputes in Asia and the degree to which sovereignty issues are impacting the region and U.S. interests. He has also chaired two full Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings to consider nominees for Ambassadorships to Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Webb served as an infantry Marine in Vietnam, and later as assistant secretary of defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Pentagon. He also served as an Asia-Pacific regional military planner in Guam, has written extensively on local, national and international issues in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, and in the 1990's worked as a consultant for companies wishing to do business in Vietnam. He has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since joining the US Senate in January 2007.
