US scales back attendance at East Asia Summit

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's new national security adviser will represent the United States at the East Asia Summit, the White House said Tuesday, the lowest-level official to lead the Washington delegation since it was first invited to the regional forum.

With Trump embroiled in an impeachment inquiry, the muted presence at the Nov. 3-4 summit in Bangkok is sure to renew charges that the United States is not focused on Asia at a time that China's clout is growing.

The White House said that Robert O'Brien, who took over the position in September from the hawkish John Bolton, would lead a US delegation that will include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who will also travel separately to Indonesia and Vietnam.

Despite Trump's non-attendance, he is expected to go the following week to a separate summit of the Pacific Rim-wide APEC bloc in Santiago, Chile.

The East Asia Summit concept was promoted for years by Malaysia's veteran Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an outspoken proponent of the continent's future who envisioned an eventual bloc akin to the European Union.

But the United States was controversially excluded from the inaugural summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2005, drawing widespread commentary in Asia that Washington was too preoccupied with the Middle East.

After President Barack Obama vowed to pivot US attention toward Asia, the United States -- as well as Russia -- were invited as full participants in the summits starting in 2011.

Obama attended each year except 2013, when he was fighting congressional Republicans over a government shutdown and sent secretary of state John Kerry instead.

Trump flew to the Philippines for his first East Asia Summit in 2017 but, with the session running late, he left early and ended a 12-day trip to Asia, with then secretary of state Rex Tillerson taking his place.

Last year, Vice President Mike Pence attended the summit in Singapore, where he described China's militarization of the dispute-rife South China Sea as "illegal and dangerous" and vowed to stand by US allies in the region.

Trump has said that he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to seek headway in a trade war at the November 16-17 APEC summit in Chile, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has also confirmed his attendance.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

China, Japan, S. Korea to jointly combat financial instability

TOKYO - East Asia's three biggest economies vowed Friday to work together to help prevent market instability as tensions run high over Pyongyang's weapons programs.

North Korea's efforts to develop an arsenal of nuclear-armed missiles have fueled concerns among its Asian neighbors and led to threats of military action from Washington, as well as calls for China to rein in its reclusive ally.

Financial markets have been rattled by the events which have hit investor sentiment, and on Friday finance ministers and central bank governors from China, Japan and South Korea affirmed their cooperation in the face of future uncertainty.

"We will continue high degree of communication and coordination among China, Japan and Korea to cope with possible financial instability in the context of increased uncertainty of global economy and geopolitical tensions," a joint statement said.

The three-way talks were held on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo.

Financial ministers and central bank governors of the 10-strong Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were also attending the ADB gathering, which began on Thursday.

In a separate meeting with ASEAN countries, Japan on Friday proposed to create a new currency swap arrangement worth 4 trillion yen ($36 billion) in case the region faces a financial crisis.

A swap is a useful device in times of economic stress, when normal foreign exchange markets can seize up.

"The yen is a stable currency and can work effectively for the stability of financial markets," Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Participants responded positively to the proposal, NHK said.

Since the onset of the Asian currency crisis in the late 1990s, Japan has spearheaded efforts to build a multilateral currency swap agreement.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US vows no let-up in Asia focus

WASHINGTON - The new US pointman on East Asia on Monday vowed no let-up in Washington's focus on the region, pledging to build cooperation both with US allies and a rising China.

"You can count on us to remain deeply engaged in the Asia-Pacific region because our interests are so profound in that region," said Danny Russel, who took over last week as an assistant secretary of state.

President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton both promoted a "pivot" or "rebalancing" toward East Asia, calling for the United States to shift priorities toward the fast-growing region.

But academics and diplomats have asked whether the pivot is losing steam in Obama's second term, with Clinton's successor John Kerry leading a major effort to revive Middle East peace negotiations.

Russel noted that he was the first of the regionally focused assistant secretaries of state to be named and confirmed under Kerry.

Russel also pointed to the string of high-level Asian visitors to Washington including Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang, who on Thursday will be only the second Vietnamese head of state at the White House since the former war enemies normalized relations.

Kerry's State Department hopes "to diversify that rebalancing" toward Asia "to make sure we are covering the span of issues of genuine interest and concern to all of us," Russel told a news conference.

A career diplomat with expertise in Japan, Russel is generally considered more soft-spoken than his high-octane predecessor Kurt Campbell, a Clinton confidant who delighted in a punishing trans-Pacific travel schedule.

But Russel pledged continuity in US efforts to reach out to Asian nations, including in the high-stakes relationship between the United States and a growing China.

Russel pointed to Obama's summit in California in June with China's new President Xi Jinping and annual talks between the world's two largest economies earlier this month.

"I have heard this directly, repeatedly, that the countries throughout the region expect and want the US and China to maintain a level of high-level dialogue and practical cooperation that will help generate positive results," he said.

Russel also pledged efforts to cooperate with the five US treaty-bound allies in the region -- Australia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

He voiced hope for greater economic reforms by Japan after Sunday's election victory by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition, which ended an era of divided parliaments that contributed to the downfall of six short-serving premiers.

"If this is a step that will help facilitate greater continuity of leadership in Japan, I think it will be welcome by all of Japan's friends," Russel said.

Russel also stood firm on North Korea, saying that the United States was willing to return to negotiations only if the communist state moved to end is nuclear program.

"North Korea faces a fundamental choice -- its pursuit of nuclear weapons has not and will not bring it security, and it certainly will not bring it international respect," he said.

"North Korea has to show its seriousness of purpose and its willingness to negotiate a denuclearization agreement as it has committed to," he said.

North Korea has repeatedly walked away from 2005 and 2007 aid-for-disarmament deals and in February carried out its third nuclear test, accusing the United States of hostility.

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