{"id":172349,"date":"2022-04-17T09:24:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T01:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=172349"},"modified":"2022-04-17T09:24:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T01:24:13","slug":"us-to-host-asean-leaders-in-mid-may-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=172349","title":{"rendered":"US to host ASEAN leaders in mid-May: White House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u00a0WASHINGTON, April \u00a017 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden will meet in\u00a0mid-May with the leaders of Southeast Asian nations, with a likely focus on the\u00a0rising power of China, the White House announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summit, originally scheduled for March, “will demonstrate the United\u00a0States’ enduring commitment to ASEAN,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki\u00a0said in a statement, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration to serve as a\u00a0strong, reliable partner in Southeast Asia,” the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summit, originally set for March 28 and 29 before being delayed without\u00a0a new date, will now take place on May 12 and 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting was postponed amid reports that the leaders of some ASEAN\u00a0members had scheduling conflicts, and as the Ukraine crisis continued to deepen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States has long said that strengthening its ties to Asia was a\u00a0foreign policy priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 29, Biden met at the White House with a key ASEAN member, Prime\u00a0Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, and said he wanted to ensure that the\u00a0region remains “free and open” — a reference to what the US sees as attempts\u00a0
by rising power China to dominate international trade routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden had participated in a virtual summit with ASEAN leaders in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that summit, Psaki noted in her statement, Biden announced initiatives\u00a0to expand US engagement with ASEAN on COVID-19, climate change, economic growth\u00a0and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tense competition with China has become one of the greatest foreign\u00a0policy challenges for the United States, though other issues — the chaotic\u00a0withdrawal from Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine — have demanded more urgent\u00a0
attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASEAN members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,\u00a0the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Several of them have\u00a0experienced growing friction with Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US statement Saturday did not make clear whether the leaders of Myanmar\u00a0would in fact attend. The administration has accused that country’s military\u00a0leaders of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Rohingya minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASEAN has sought — in vain so far — to find a diplomatic solution since\u00a0the military took power there in a 2021 coup. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0WASHINGTON, April \u00a017 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden will meet in\u00a0mid-May with the leaders of Southeast Asian nations, with a likely focus on the\u00a0rising power of China, the White House announced. The summit, originally scheduled for March, “will demonstrate the United\u00a0States’ enduring commitment to ASEAN,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki\u00a0said in a statement, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172349"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172351,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172349\/revisions\/172351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}