Biden to host Asean leaders

WASHINGTON: United States President Joe Biden will host Southeast Asian leaders in Washington this week, seeking to show his administration remains focused on the IndoPacific and the longterm challenge of China despite the Ukraine crisis.

A twoday summit with the 10nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) begins with a White House dinner today before talks at the State Department tomorrow.

It will be the first time leaders of Asean, created in some of the darkest days of the Cold War, have gathered as a group at the White House. President Barack Obama hosted them at Sunnylands in California in 2016.

Up to eight Asean leaders are expected. Myanmar’s leader has been excluded over a coup last year and the Philippines is in transition after an election.

The summit takes place ahead of Biden’s May 2024 visit to South Korea and Japan, which includes a plan to meet fellow leaders of the Quad countries — Australia, India and Japan — who share US concerns about China’s ambitions to expand its influence in the region and globally. — Reuters