HANOI, Vietnam: US President Donald Trump skipped a virtual summit with his Southeast Asian counterparts on Saturday, the third year in a row that the US is being represented at a lower level.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said Trump regretted he was unable to attend the online summit with the 10-members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations but stressed the importance of ties with the region.
“At this time of global crisis, the US-ASEAN strategic partnership has become even more important as we work together to combat the coronavirus,” O’Brien said in remarks at the opening ceremony, which was livestreamed to ASEAN members watching from their respective countries.
Trump attended the ASEAN summit in 2017, but sent only representatives during the last two meetings. A special summit with ASEAN that he was supposed to host in Las Vegas in March was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump is busy with challenging the results of the Nov. 3 presidential race won by Democrat Joe Biden, insisting he was the victim of election fraud. Most countries have acknowledged Biden’s victory.
The White House said in a statement that O’Brien will also represent the US at an East Asia virtual summit later Saturday with ASEAN as well as China, Japan and South Korea. Despite Trump’s absence, it said ASEAN remains central to his vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” Washington’s strategy to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
China’s sway in the region is set to expand with a massive free trade agreement that will be inked Sunday. The pact, which will cover almost a third of the world economy, includes the ASEAN nations, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
India backed backed out of the plan last year and it does not include the United States, despite America’s $2 trillion in trade with the region.
In his remarks Saturday, O’Brien touted ASEAN as the fourth-largest trading partner for the US, with trade reaching over $354 billion dollars last year.
“We deeply appreciate ASEAN partners’ efforts to keep the key supply chains open, factories operating, and PPE flowing,” he said, referring to personal protective equipment used to protect against the coronavirus.
He noted that the US had contributed $87 million to combat the coronavirus in Southeast Asia, including providing American made ventilators and PPE.
“The United States has your back and we know you have ours,” he added.
Trump skips Southeast Asia summit for third year in a row
https://arab.news/c3a5z
Trump skips Southeast Asia summit for third year in a row
- Trump attended the ASEAN summit in 2017, but sent only representatives during the last two meetings
- China’s sway in the region is set to expand with a massive free trade agreement that will be inked Sunday
Trump renews push to annex Greenland
- President Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on his claim that Greenland should become part of the United States, despite calls by Denmark’s prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory
COPENHAGEN: President Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on his claim that Greenland should become part of the United States, despite calls by Denmark’s prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory.
Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the Arctic.
While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
“We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months... let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”
Over the weekend, the Danish prime minister called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally.”
“I have to say this very clearly to the United States: it is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.
She also noted that Denmark, “and thus Greenland,” was a NATO member protected by the agreement’s security guarantees.
’Disrespectful’
Trump rattled European leaders by attacking Caracas and grabbing Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who is now being detained in New York.
Trump has said the United States will now “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its huge oil reserves.
Asked in a telephone interview with The Atlantic about the implications of the Venezuela military operation for mineral-rich Greenland, Trump said it was up to others to decide.
“They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know,” Trump was quoted as saying.
He added: “But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”
Hours later, former aide Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it “SOON.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen called Miller’s post “disrespectful.”
“Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights,” he wrote on X.
But he also said “there is neither reason for panic nor for concern. Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts.”
Allies?
Stephen Miller is widely seen as the architect of much of Trump’s policies, guiding the president on his hard-line immigration policies and domestic agenda.
Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Jesper Moeller Soerensen, offered a pointed “friendly reminder” in response to Katie Miller’s post that his country has “significantly boosted its Arctic security efforts” and worked together with Washington on that.
“We are close allies and should continue to work together as such,” Soerensen wrote.
Katie Miller was deputy press secretary under Trump at the Department of Homeland Security during his first term.
She later worked as communications director for then-vice president Mike Pence and also acted as his press secretary.
