Biden To Host ASEAN Leaders for Washington Summit in March

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP File
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP File

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for a special summit in Washington next month, the White House announced Monday.

The meeting of the 10-member ASEAN will be held March 28-29 and is being billed by the White House as an opportunity to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the bloc and a chance to mark 45 years of U.S.-ASEAN relations.

“It is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration to serve as a strong, reliable partner and to strengthen an empowered and unified ASEAN to address the challenges of our time,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

The ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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ASEAN barred Myanmar’s military-installed government leadership from the last annual summit in October, instead restricting the nation’s participation to non-political representatives. That policy is expected to remain in place for the March summit, according to a Biden administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The summit comes as Biden has sought to make relations in the Pacific a top foreign policy priority amid growing concerns about China as a military and economic adversary. Biden has criticized Beijing for human rights abuses against Uyghurs in northwest China, suppression of democratic protests in Hong Kongmilitary aggression against the self-ruled island of Taiwan and more.

Biden participated in the October summit, where he announced more than $100 million in new U.S. spending in ASEAN countries on health programs, a new climate initiative, programs to assist with the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and education programs.

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It marked the first time since 2017, when President Donald Trump participated in the summit, that a U.S. president took part in a meeting of the bloc.

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Story: Aamer Madhani.