WASHINGTON (AFP) - US ties with Southeast Asia are facing a setback as President George W Bush cancelled his scheduled first summit with Asean leaders and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to the region for annual talks seems uncertain.
US officials have informed Singapore, host of the much-touted US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, that the September 5 date for the talks was now "not convenient", Asean diplomats said.
September is critical for Bush as a much-awaited assessment of the situation in insurgency-wracked Iraq would be released that month amid a revolt within his own Republican party over failed war strategy.
"We are actually disappointed," one Asean diplomat told AFP.
The landmark summit was aimed at highlighting 30 years of official ties between Washington and Asean, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On the heels of the failed summit is growing uncertainty about Rice attending an annual Asean ministerial meeting, which includes an August 1-2 dialogue between the region and its key trading partners as well as a high-level regional security forum.
The 27-member Asean Regional Forum (ARF) is the only high level official security group in the Asia-Pacific region, and includes Russia, India, China and the European Union.
Foreign diplomats say they have heard that Rice may skip the trip to the Asean meeting due to a conflict of schedules.
"We will keep you up to date on her travel schedules," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Wednesday when asked whether Rice would attend the meeting or send her deputy, John Negroponte.
In 2005, Rice became the first American secretary of state to send her deputy to the ARF since it was first held in 1994, drawing criticism from the region which felt its stature had diminished in Washington's eyes.
Walter Lohman, former senior vice president of the US-Asean Business Council, said that based on information he had received, "it looks all but certain that Secretary Rice would take a pass on the Asean meetings".
With Bush's cancellation of his summit with Asean leaders and Rice's possible non-attendance, Lohman said the immediate future seemed grim for ties between the two sides.
"It is a significant setback in US-Asean relations after two good years and the question is, if the administration doesn't quickly get back on track, will there really be enough time in the next 18 months to patch it up," said Lohman, director of the Asian studies centre at Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
US officials have informed Singapore, host of the much-touted US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, that the September 5 date for the talks was now "not convenient", Asean diplomats said.
September is critical for Bush as a much-awaited assessment of the situation in insurgency-wracked Iraq would be released that month amid a revolt within his own Republican party over failed war strategy.
"We are actually disappointed," one Asean diplomat told AFP.
The landmark summit was aimed at highlighting 30 years of official ties between Washington and Asean, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On the heels of the failed summit is growing uncertainty about Rice attending an annual Asean ministerial meeting, which includes an August 1-2 dialogue between the region and its key trading partners as well as a high-level regional security forum.
The 27-member Asean Regional Forum (ARF) is the only high level official security group in the Asia-Pacific region, and includes Russia, India, China and the European Union.
Foreign diplomats say they have heard that Rice may skip the trip to the Asean meeting due to a conflict of schedules.
"We will keep you up to date on her travel schedules," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Wednesday when asked whether Rice would attend the meeting or send her deputy, John Negroponte.
In 2005, Rice became the first American secretary of state to send her deputy to the ARF since it was first held in 1994, drawing criticism from the region which felt its stature had diminished in Washington's eyes.
Walter Lohman, former senior vice president of the US-Asean Business Council, said that based on information he had received, "it looks all but certain that Secretary Rice would take a pass on the Asean meetings".
With Bush's cancellation of his summit with Asean leaders and Rice's possible non-attendance, Lohman said the immediate future seemed grim for ties between the two sides.
"It is a significant setback in US-Asean relations after two good years and the question is, if the administration doesn't quickly get back on track, will there really be enough time in the next 18 months to patch it up," said Lohman, director of the Asian studies centre at Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
2 comments:
Anonymous said...
All right folk! Now you know the real royalty of the Viet people living in Cambodia and their royalty is with Vietcong government in Hanoi and all the Viet people in Cambodia are a potential secret agent working for Vietcong Hanoi government!
I know for a fact that many Viet people in Cambodia have AK-47 in their house or in a hide out somewhere close to their house! I want to know why AH HUN SEN government allowed all these Viet people to have AK-47 in their house. A metal detector wills confirm what I said! Why AH HUN SEN is working so hard and tirelessly to take away weapons from Cambodian people but not the Viet? Cambodian people can no longer become defenseless!
I would like to see US really paying attention to SEA especially CAMBODIA. If they want to see Cambodia's democracy live longer they should encourage those whose fighting for it for the sake of the Cambodian people. If US kept ignoring Cambodia, we will be in japody. At least they send their top leaders to encourage Cambodia democracy.
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