US President Donald Trump is to skip two major summits in Asia in November, a move that could stoke concerns in the region about the US’ reliability as a counterweight to China.
The White House on Friday said that US Vice President Mike Pence would travel to Singapore for an 18-member ASEAN summit, before heading to Papua New Guinea for an APEC gathering.
The APEC summit is normally attended by 21 leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Reuters
The decision removes one potential avenue for Trump to meet with Xi as a trade war between the US and China deepens. Both leaders are expected to attend the G20 summit in Argentina later in November.
Trump’s absence is also likely to fuel concerns among Asian leaders who want the US to push back against China’s increasing economic and military might.
Trump administration officials have been promoting a new “Indo-Pacific” strategy to bolster its commitment to the region, after Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal and questioned the cost of security alliances with Japan and South Korea.
“His absence would doubtlessly solidify the impression that America has essentially abandoned its traditional presence in the Asia-Pacific, not to mention the non-starter Indo-Pacific,” said Oh Ei Sun (胡逸山), a senior adviser for international affairs at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute in Kuala Lumpur.
Without Trump, Xi would have more space to advocate Chinese trade and development projects, such as his ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
Xi was the first leader to confirm his attendance to the APEC meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, where he also plans to host his own summit with Pacific leaders.
Although US leaders have attended the events over the past few years, missing them is not unprecedented.
In 2007, then-US president George W. Bush drew flak for rescheduling a planned meeting with ASEAN leaders in Singapore. Former US president Barack Obama, whose administration announced a pivot in military and diplomatic resources to Asia, in 2013 skipped APEC to handle a government shutdown.
Newly installed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a trip to Jakarta yesterday told reporters that Trump’s decision to tend to matters at home was understandable and Pence “speaks with the authority of the [US] president.”
The Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed Pence’s visit to the city-state, adding in a statement that it would be his first as US vice president.
The Asian summits come days after midterm US Congressional elections, which could determine Trump’s ability to withstand investigations into Russian campaign interference and election-season payments to alleged mistresses.
While US Democratic Party leaders have largely avoided talking about impeaching Trump, Republican losses in the US House of Representatives or Senate would greatly increase the risk of congressional action.
Collin Koh Swee Lean (高瑞連), a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that efforts by US officials in the region should help offset Trump’s absence.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo at an ASEAN meeting last month announced US$300 million in regional security funding and the US military is among nine nations participating in the ongoing annual Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training exercises in Singapore.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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