BANGKOK: Several Southeast Asian leaders snubbed a meeting with US officials on Monday after President Donald Trump decided not to attend a regional summit in Bangkok. Washington did not send top officials to the weekend Asean summit, instead dispatching commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and national security advisor Robert O’Brien. “It’s not appropriate for Asean to send leaders when the US representation is not on parity,” one diplomat in Bangkok told AFP. The TPP has since been reborn as a watered-down version without the US, eclipsed by a China-backed agreement that is slated to be the world’s biggest when finalised. Ongoing troubles in the South China Sea also dominated the Asean summit, with Vietnam hoping for tough language against Beijing over its aggression in the resource-rich waterway.

Source: New Strait Times November 04, 2019 12:56 UTC