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Biden sets sight on China as he welcomes ASEAN leaders on Thursday
A two-day summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) begins with a White House dinner on Thursday before talks at the State Department on Friday.
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US President Joe Biden takes a question as he addresses the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from the East Room of the White House on February 24, 2022, in Washington, DC. Biden announced (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)
P
resident Joe Biden will host Southeast Asian leaders in Washington this week as his administration seeks to show it can maintain its focus on the Indo-Pacific and the long-term challenge of China despite the immediate crisis in Ukraine.
A two-day summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) begins with a White House dinner on Thursday before talks at the State Department on Friday.
Up to eight of the 10 ASEAN leaders are expected. Myanmar's leader has been excluded over a coup last year and the Philippines is in transition after an election.
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 was the last US leader to host them, at Sunnylands in California in 2016.
The summit comes ahead of Biden's May 20-24 visit to South Korea and Japan, which will include meetings with the other leaders of the Quad grouping of countries - India, Australia and Japan - who share US concerns about China's ambitions to expand its influence in the region and globally.
Kate Rebholz, acting US ambassador to ASEAN, told Washington's Stimson Center the summit would result in "an ambitious and forward-looking US-ASEAN vision statement" and new initiatives, including partnerships in public health, climate and economic growth.
However, analysts and diplomats do not expect dramatic advances in what is shaping up to be a largely symbolic summit. They say a key headline is likely to be elevation of the current US-ASEAN "strategic partnership" by adding a word to make it a "comprehensive" strategic partnership, bringing it into line with the description of ASEAN's ties with Australia and China.
