US President Barack Obama begins an Asian trip this weekend which will see him make stops in China, Myanmar and Australia, where he is due to attend the G20 summit in Brisbane.........

WASHINGTON: Still smarting from his election night mauling, President Barack Obama heads this weekend to China seeking to reassure Asian nations of America's commitment to its much-vaunted pivot to the region.

Assailed on all sides by global crises, from Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria to the conflict in Ukraine and the spread of Ebola, Obama will aim to dispel fears that Washington's attention is increasingly diverted away from Asian issues.

As well as attending a two-day summit of Asian and Pacific leaders which opens Monday (Nov 10) in Beijing, Obama will also hold separate talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He will then travel to Myanmar to attend the East Asia Summit on the sidelines of a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the capital Naypyidaw, before heading for G20 talks in Brisbane, Australia.

"This is going to be a tough trip for the president," predicted Ernest Bower, a senior Asia advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "I think when Southeast Asia looks at this trip and him coming, they're wondering, you know, who is Barack Obama now after the midterm elections?"

He added: "They'll be trying to discern whether he has the commitment and political capability, political capital to follow through on earlier commitments."