Cambodia – After the Asean chair Cambodia has announced that the Washington summit together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had been postponed since not all leaders could go later this month, the White House stated on Thursday that it is exploring other dates.
Last month, the White House announced that US President Joe Biden will convene an Asean special meeting on March 28 and 29.
A representative for the White House National Security Council said Biden looked forward to welcoming the Asean leaders to Washington when asked about the Cambodian foreign minister’s announcement of a delay earlier this month.
According to the official, they are already working closely with the Asean partners in order to determine which dates for this summit are acceptable so that all invited Asean leaders may attend the said convention.
The summit has been postponed, as said by the Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, due to certain Asean leaders who were unable to attend on the suggested dates.
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The meeting is considered as part of the US’s attempts to increase engagement with a region that the US regards as crucial to its efforts to counter China’s increasing dominance. It was supposed to come out earlier this year, but was postponed due to worries about Covid-19.
The meeting has been dubbed as “a major priority” by the White House, in which it says that it will mark 45 years of ties between the United States and the Asian nations.
It has said that it would follow Asean’s precedent and invite a non-political delegate from Myanmar’s military dictatorship.
Since last year, the Myanmar junta has been prohibited from crucial meetings due to its inability to follow through on a promise to cease hostilities in the nation, which have already killed about hundreds of civilians and displaced over 300,000.
