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Trump was invited to attend the U.S.-Association of Southeast
Asian Nations summit and the East Asia summit in Singapore and
also the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New
Guinea. He had attended these events last November.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump asked Pence to
represent him at the summits, where he will "highlight the
United States’ vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, based on
respect for sovereignty, the rule of law, and the principles of
free, fair and reciprocal trade."
Trump will travel to Paris to attend a Nov. 11 commemoration of
the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One.
Trump had wanted a U.S. military parade in Washington but balked
at price estimates.
"While in Europe, the president also will visit Ireland to renew
the deep and historic ties between our two nations," Sanders
said.
Later in November, Trump will attend the Group of 20 summit in
Buenos Aires and will also travel to Colombia for talks about
security, narcotics and regional affairs, Sanders said.
Trump's decision to skip the Asian summits will inevitably raise
questions about the extent of his commitment to a region that is
home to some of the most pressing U.S. foreign policy
challenges.
These include Trump's stalled efforts to persuade North Korea to
give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United
States and strategic rivalry with China, with which Trump has
engaged in a major trade war.
The Trump administration has touted an Indo-Pacific strategy
aimed at increasing regional cooperation, notably with India,
Australia and Japan, to counter China's influence, including in
the disputed South China Sea, where Washington has mounted naval
patrols to challenge what it sees as Beijing's excessive
territorial claims.
In August, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended a
regional foreign ministers' meeting in Singapore to prepare for
the November summits and pledged nearly $300 million in new
security funding for the Indo-Pacific - a drop in the ocean
compared to the billions China has been pouring into the region.
Asia experts were not surprised by Trump's decision.
"Trump hates traveling outside the U.S. and dislikes
multilateral meetings," said Bonnie Glaser of Washington's
Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Convincing Trump to travel to PNG, in particular, was likely
impossible," she said. "He will have a chance to meet with
(Chinese President) Xi Jinping at the G20 a few weeks later,"
adding that the decision on the summits "will further stoke
doubts about the administration's commitment to the Indo-Pacific
region."
Jonathan Pollack of the Brookings Institution think tank, noted
that Trump was not the first president to cancel trips to the
Asian summits - his predecessor Barack Obama caused great
disappointment when he withdrew from them in 2013.
Obama did so due to a government shutdown at home, but the
decision raised questions about his vaunted "pivot" to Asia to
counter China.
"There’s no question that many in Southeast Asia see the region
caught uncomfortably between the United States and China,"
Pollack said.
"The Trump administration’s repeated calls for a free and open
Indo-Pacific have fallen flat in various capitals, which many
see as very thin gruel, begging the issue of how the U.S.
intends to remain relevant to the regional future."
(Reporting by Steve Holland and David Brunnstrom; Additional
reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie
Adler)
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