NONTHABURI, Thailand – Majority of Southeast Asian leaders skipped a summit with the United States yesterday following the absence of President Donald Trump.
Of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders, seven, including President Duterte, sent their foreign ministers instead to the summit with the US.
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien represented Trump in his stead at the summit attended by the leaders of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam and the foreign ministers of other ASEAN member-states.
Duterte was represented by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. during the summit.
“The leaders will attend the meetings when their counterparts are here so they attend when their counterparts from plus three nations are here,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said on the sidelines of the regional summit here.
“But when it’s not a leader, I think and it comes off as a ministerial level, I think the ministers will take care of that. It’s just a matter of proper balance,” he said on the absence of the ASEAN leaders.
Dominguez said Locsin told him about the appearance of ministers instead at the ASEAN-US summit. “It’s going to be minister-to-minister,” he added.
At the ASEAN-US summit, O’Brien extended Trump’s invitation to the Southeast Asian leaders to visit the US for a special summit next year. It was unclear if the leaders have accepted the invitation.
Trump missed the 35th ASEAN summit and related meetings and sent O’Brien and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in his stead. This will be second consecutive year the US leader will miss the regional gathering in Asia. The White House did not say why Trump opted to skip the regional meetings in Thailand.
Dominguez said Trump’s absence does not necessarily demonstrate the US has become less reliable partner of the regional bloc. He admitted though it would be “nice” if the US leader attends future regional summits.
“The absence of President Trump basically, he is missed. I don’t think it affects the view of the ASEAN about the reliability of the US. For reliability, we had better look into their actions rather into their presence,” he said. (Genalyn Kabiling)