US President Barack Obama bows as he is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as he arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Saturday.(AP)

TOKYO (AP) – President Barack Obama declared Saturday that an era of American disengagement in the globe’s fastest-growing region is over and warned that the United States and its Asian partners ``will not be cowed’’ by North Korea’s continued defiance over its nuclear weapons and other provocations.

Obama also said a robust China should be welcomed, not feared, as a powerful partner on urgent challenges. Addressing Americans’ worries about the economic and security threat from China’s rising might and Asians’ skepticism about US leadership, the president said: ``We welcome China’s efforts to play a greater role on the world stage, a role in which their growing economy is joined by growing responsibility.’’

In a 40-minute speech, Obama offered incentives for North Korea to abandon the nuclear weapons it is believed to already have and the production program it continues in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. He outlined a possible future of economic opportunity and greater global greater respect, saying, ``this respect cannot be earned through belligerence.’’

``It should be clear where that path leads,’’ Obama said. ``We will continue to send a clear message through our actions, and not just our words: North Korea’s refusal to meet its international obligations will lead only to less security, not more.’’

More broadly, the president’s address to 1,500 prominent Japanese in a soaring downtown Tokyo concert hall was intended to showcase a United States that, under Obama’s leadership, seeks deeper engagement in Asia. It was the fifth major foreign address of his 10-month presidency.