Barack Obama makes opening remarks at the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California February 15, 2016.
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He said that ASEAN countries had always always shown him extraordinary hospitality, and in keeping with that he didn’t invite them to the White House.
Besides the US, four Asean countries (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam) are part of the TPP and the others, particularly Indonesia, have expressed interest in joining the agreement, which is pending ratification from the US Congress and is one of the foreign policy pillars of Obama.
Since I took office, we’ve boosted trade between the United States and ASEAN by 55 percent.
“ASEAN countries have no such desire, and the US knows it is not able to do so”, the Global Times said, repeating Beijing’s stance that disputes in the sea should be handled bilaterally.
“The President and Prime Minister [Nguyen Tan] Dung discussed the continued strengthening of US-Vietnam relations in 2015, which marked the 20th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations”, a White House official said.
Najib spoke to Malaysian journalists Monday (Tuesday in Malaysia) at the end of the first day of the two-day summit here.
Rice said the region was becoming “the world’s political and economic center of gravity”, and noted that the 10 nations collectively were the fourth-biggest USA export market – including $11 billion in goods from California. He said in recent years, the United States has raised maritime assistance to allies and partners in the region “improving our mutual capabilities to protect lawful commerce, to respond to humanitarian crisis”.
The choice Sunnylands as the location – which hosted an important summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 – has prompted some to speculate about the underlying message.
But there are concerns that turning the region into an integrated market and production base is still some way off. Anthony Nelson, a spokesman for the US-ASEAN Business Council, told a recent news conference in Washington that while the AEC was an “exciting” initiative, some of its goals were ambitious.
Mr Obama also lauded ASEAN on the formation of the ASEAN Community, which he said was another important step towards integrating the region’s economies.
The U.S.is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes. They include counterterrorism and China’s bold territorial claims to disputed waters of the South China Sea, moves that have sounded worldwide alarms and heightened tensions with some association members.
Officials say China has put pressure on countries such as Cambodia and Laos not to sign on.
All Asean leaders attended the summit with the exception of Myanmar’s outgoing president Thein Sein, who was represented by Vice-President Nyan Htun.
He made a decision to remain at home as talks inside the regime intensify over whether to change the constitution to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to become president. Eight people were killed during assaults last month in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, in the first major attack there in six years.
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, have all reported citizens traveling to fight in Iraq and Syria, and several small militant groups in the Philippines have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
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“The more that we can establish clear rules of the road for how issues are managed, for how disputes are resolved, the more stable and prosperous this region is going to stay going forward”, said Rhodes. And, in general, the United States has had difficulty promoting democracy in a region where Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has ruled for 31 years and a military junta seized power in Thailand two years ago.
