U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has chosen to visit Indonesia on her first overseas trip because she wants to “reach out” to the Muslim world, the State Department said Thursday. Indonesia is “an important country for the United States” as the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, spokesman Robert Wood said when asked why Clinton included Indonesia on her trip to Asia. “The secretary feels it's important that we need to reach out and reach out early to Indonesia,” Wood told reporters. Clinton, who also will visit Japan, South Korea, and China, will meet senior Indonesian officials in Jakarta to discuss “the close and growing partnership with Indonesia and perspectives on common interests in southeast Asia,” Wood said. In his inauguration speech last month, President Barack Obama pledged to seek a “new way forward” with the Muslim world “based on mutual interest and respect.” Obama has promised to make a major speech in a Muslim capital, but Wood did not say whether Clinton would prepare for a trip to Indonesia by Obama, who spent part of his childhood there. “I don't know if, when, the president will be traveling to Indonesia,” Wood said. “Obviously, … the president will be very interested in the outcome of … this trip, not just to Indonesia, but to the other countries.”
