US PRESIDENT Barack Obama gathered with leaders from Southeast Asia on Monday to strengthen trade ties and form a common stance over the South China Sea in a summit that the White House hopes will solidify US influence in the region.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in the meeting that finding solutions to an economic downturn, notably in the Asean region, was a priority for the US and Asean.

The two sides should open their respective economies to each other, he said.

The Asean-driven Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the US-dominated Trans Pacific Partnership could complement each other, he told the summit.

On Monday the leaders were slated to focus on economic issues, including discussion of the TPP, which includes four Asean members: Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia. Others are interested in joining, and the White House wants to make sure the pact takes effect.

The US is preparing to unveil a plan to set up centres in Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta as part of an effort to help promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Asean, according to Singapore’s The Straits |Times.

Each centre – likely to be set up within the US missions in each city – will help coordinate existing US programmes and channel US business investment in the region, as well as develop new projects.

It will be part of an initiative known as Asean-US Connect that is aimed at enhancing US economic engagement in the region.

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch urged the Obama administration to object to human-rights violations in countries such as Cambodia and Thailand during the summit.

The president touched on the issue without specifics during his remarks. Thai people in the US staged their respective rallies in California in support or against Prime Minister Prayut, who seized power in 2014 in a coup.

While the pro-Prayut group expressed their gratitude to him, the anti-junta group denounced the action to topple the elected government.

 

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama will host a summit today with Asean leaders at a location that could be called the West Coast “Camp David” to achieve their strategic partnership goals.

The meeting will be held at the Sunnylands centre in Rancho Mirage, California.

To make the venue available for the US-Asean summit, the historic estate and adjacent Sunnylands Center & Gardens has been closed to the public since 9am on February 7 and will reopen 9am on Saturday.

Obama has had several opportunities to use the venue of the beautiful and comfortable estate for important meetings with world leaders. The president has often found the grounds to be conducive to dialogue and discussions, according to W Patrick Murphy, the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Bangkok.

“Being in California is convenient for the leaders from Southeast Asia to travel to the West Coast of the US. It is also kind of nice to be outside of Washington since things [that] happen in Washington trend to be formal, limited in time … Sunnylands is a chance to get away from the capital and day-to-day business to focus on the dialogue,” Murphy said.

The US-Asean Sunnylands gathering will not send a political message to China, he added, although the venue has been used for meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Obama in recent years.

While it is apparent that the US and China are competing to win hearts and minds in Asean, some members such as the Philippines and Vietnam have territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea and need to build close alliances with the US. As a result, some analysts have disagreed with Murphy, saying a meeting at the same Sunnylands venue may send in fact send a message to China.

“Some might be reading too much into that, in fact President Obama also hosted the King of Jordan at Sunny-lands,” Murphy insisted. “You might be surprised, we don’t have a lot of perfect venues for this kind of event; [Sunnylands is] intimate, friendly but also has the infrastructure to support personnel, the media and other components that are necessary when the leaders come together.”

Sunnylands is owned and operated by the Annenberg Foundation Trust, which was established by Walter and Leonore Annenberg in 2001. Since it was founded, the Trust has focused on programmes to improve civics education, developed and spread information targeting the treatment of mental disorders in adolescents, facilitated communication among Annenberg-funded organisations to augment their effectiveness, and hosted retreats analysing how to buttress democratic institutions. “It is this history that forms the bedrock of the current retreat programming,” according to the Sunnylands website. Before her death in 2009, Leonore Annenberg began to build a 1,600-square-metre building and 3.6-hectare garden to provide additional meeting areas for retreats and to educate the public about the historic significance of Sunnylands, the website added.

The Trust occasionally considers request from outside organisations to use the venue, although it is not available to rent for weddings, business conferences or other social events.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who left Bangkok yesterday, will have the opportunity to attend meetings and functions at Sunnylands on Monday and Tuesday but will not stay overnight at the centre.

The prime minister is staying at a California hotel, which he will also use a workspace and meeting venue in connection with the US-Asean summit. Shortly after landing in California, he met with Thai scientists who work at Nasa as well as representatives of the private US online firm Amazon.

On the first day today, Prayut will join Asean leaders meeting Obama under the banner of “Promoting Regional Prosperity Through Innovation and Entrepreneurship”.

Obama is also hosting a working dinner with his Asean counterparts at the historic Sunnylands house to discuss his regional strategic outlook.

On the final day of the US-Asean summit tomorrow, Asean leaders will hold discussions with Obama titled “Protecting Peace, Prosperity, and Security in the Asia-Pacific”. Prayut is scheduled to leave California tomorrow afternoon.

 

THE UNITED STATES will not single out any Asean countries over any controversial issue relating to freedom of expression and other human rights problems like trafficking when US President Barack Obama meets with Southeast Asian leaders at the inaugural US-Asean summit next week, a US diplomat said yesterday.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is scheduled to leave Bangkok on Sunday for California’s Rancho Mirage to attend the two-day summit that starts on Monday.

International human rights groups called on Obama to address freedom of expression and human rights issues with the Asean leaders, especially those from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar.

“This is about the collective. It is not an opportunity for unnecessary addresses of bilateral issues,” said W Patrick Murphy, deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in Bangkok. “It is really about the relations between the US and the entire Asean, comprising the 10 countries plus the AseanSecretariat.

“It is not the objective of the gathering [to probe these issues]. Some issues might come up during the meeting. But the intention of the meeting is engagement between the president and his 10 counterparts and the Asean Secretary General.

Murphy said with regards to human rights, Obama was expected to collectively speak to the Aseanleaders about good governance, respecting civil liberties and the rule of law.

“That’s important to the US and the region,” he said. “We have seen advances [in these areas in Asean] and we’ve seen challenges. But the intention is not to single out or address specific issues of individual countries.

“When leaders arrive, they will be greeted by President Obama in Sunnylands, and of course there will be a lot of interaction during the two-day meeting.”

The government’s deputy spokesman, Weerachon Sukhonthapatipak, said: “The prime minister emphasised the key principle for its relations with foreign countries – that Thailand has dignity and integrity. We are a responsible member of Asean and the international community. As a member of the group, we have to have constructive roles to promote relations and cooperation between Aseanand allies.”

Murphy said at the summit Washington would highlight two key messages – the continuation of the Obama administration’s Asia rebalancing policy, and the importance of Southeast Asia to the US.

He said the US and Asean entered into a strategic partnership last November, and this was the first opportunity for their heads of state to meet as well as it being the first Asean summit since its full implementation at the end of last year.

“We feel part of the region, and Southeast Asia is a linchpin for our engagement with all of the Asia Pacific region,” he said. “We are the first dialogue partner of Asean to have a resident ambassador to the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta.

“We are a member of the East Asia summit, our president comes to Southeast Asia every year, not to mention other members of the cabinet.”

The summit will be divided into two parts. Economic matters will be discussed on Monday while Tuesday will be devoted to security cooperations including for maritime, Murphy said

President Obama also plans to touch on innovation and entrepreneurship, he said.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a comprehensive free-trade scheme which four Asean members, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have already joined, will be discussed, he said.

“There will be opportunities to talk about the TPP and its impact on the region but not exclusively for those who are members,” he said. “We heard some Asean countries are interested, and the president might entertain that kind of interest.

“But we are not asking any non-members to join. We have simply provided information such as about the draft agreements and opportunities.”

Many US cabinet members, such as the secretaries of trade and the treasury, will meet with anyAsean member interested in joining the TPP scheme, he said.

On the security front, Murphy said the leaders would discuss broad issues such as terrorism and collective security in the region.

The hot topic of the South China Sea, where many Asean members are at loggerheads with China in territorial disputes, could also come up, he said.

The US has a consistent stance on calling for freedom of navigation, finding peaceful solutions to problems and respect for international laws and principles, he said.

“Again for the US, we don’t make any claims and we don’t support any particular claims of one over the other. We are about principles,” he said.

US President Barack Obama has invited 10 Asean leaders to the summit in the Californian resort of Sunnylands on February 15-16 to seek closer cooperation with the regional grouping in all aspects, including political, security and economic issues, Foreign Ministry director-general of Asean Affairs Jakkrit Srivali said. The US would reaffirm its “rebalancing to Asia” policy at the summit whileAsean would like to see Washington play a constructive role in the region, he said.

The summit would conclude with the Sunnylands Principle, an expression of political will on both sides as well as highlight the strategic partnership between the two, he said. Asean sits in the middle of a power rivalry between the US and China, especially as some members of the group have territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea.