US-ASEAN summit postponed over apparent scheduling rift

ISTANBUL

An eagerly awaited meeting between the US and Southeast Asian nations has been postponed, Cambodia’s foreign minister announced on Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden was due to host leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Washington on March 28 and 29.

The meeting has been pushed off because some ASEAN leaders “are unable to join the summit on the proposed date,” Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told Cambodian website Fresh News.

No new date has been proposed for the summit.

The US, which said the summit was “a top priority for the Biden-Harris administration,” is yet to comment on the matter.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, the current chair of the 10-member ASEAN, had called for the summit to be delayed due to a scheduling clash.

Some ASEAN members wanted the summit to be held on March 26 and 27, he said this Monday.

Sen said the US had conveyed the dates to Indonesia, which was acting as mediator in the process, but Jakarta “had not coordinated the scheduling with the other ASEAN members.”

The postponement also comes in the backdrop of Russia’s war on Ukraine, an issue on which some ASEAN members have taken a more cautious approach than the US, which has been vocal in its backing for Kyiv and leading efforts to pressure Moscow.