Eight Asean heads will gather in Las Vegas on March 14 for a US-Asean summit seen by analysts as an olive branch from the United States after President Donald Trump skipped meetings two years in a row.
“The United States wants to reaffirm its commitment to the region, because they got some flak for that, ” one diplomat said.
For the Thailand meetings, Trump was represented by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, a move which also raised eyebrows as he was not a Cabinet member. Diplomatic sources said as of Friday, the only leaders absent would be Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.
It is yet unknown whether Myanmar would be represented by President Win Myint or State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.“For the US, the day-to-day focus has been dealing with China. Now they are at least trying to stay in the game of regional relationships, ” one diplomat said.
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