Trump skips ASEAN summit

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump skipped summits with his Asian counterparts for the third year in a row on Saturday, even as rival China is set to expand its influence with a massive free trade deal in the region.

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 (ASEAN), 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 live-streamed to ASEAN members watching from their respective countries.

It will be the third year in a row that the United States has been represented in the East Asia meetings at a relatively low level, even though the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump had declared the Asia Pacific and competition with China a foreign policy priority