MANILA, Philippines — Seven Southeast Asian leaders, including President Rodrigo Duterte, skipped the ASEAN-US Summit in Thailand Monday. US President Donald Trump did not attend the 35th ASEAN Summit and sent US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and US national security advisor Robert O'Brien instead. Photos from the side meeting showed that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. attended the event on behalf of Duterte. Only three leaders attended the ASEAN-US Summit with O'Brien as Trump's representative — Laos' Thongloun Sisoulith, Thailand's Prayut Chan-O-Cha and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Despite Trump's absence, Ross insisted that Washington remains " extremely engaged" in the region.

Source: Philippine Star November 04, 2019 06:11 UTC