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US-Asean summit: Will Biden pitch his new ‘China challenge’ strategy at Washington meet?
- One analyst believes Washington’s ability to host an in-person, leaders-level summit at a time when China cannot due to Covid is a ‘symbolic win for the US’
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will detail a long-awaited national security strategy to deal with the emergence of China as a great power
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United States President Joe Biden will meet his counterparts from Southeast Asia for a special summit in Washington next month, but getting all the leaders of the regional bloc to attend still appears in doubt.
The meeting which will be held with heads of Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on May 12 and 13 will demonstrate Washington’s commitment to the regional bloc.
The summit will officially commemorate the 45-year relationship between the two sides. It will also be Biden’s first in-person meeting with his Southeast Asian counterparts, following his participation in a virtual Asean-US summit in October.
The summit originally scheduled for March was postponed due to scheduling problems.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political science professor in Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University said the conference’s arrangements felt “hasty”.
“It is as if the Biden Administration wants to tick boxes for continuing what Obama started and for keeping Asean on [the] side in view of China’s assertiveness,” Pongsudhirak said, referring to Barack Obama’s efforts to pivot to the region during the former US president’s term in office.
Who will attend?
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