Obama, ASEAN leaders to meet in California retreat

The United States will host Southeast Asian leaders at a summit next year at the Sunnylands estate in southern California, where President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama met for informal talks in 2013.

Obama’s invitation to the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' members has been accepted, a spokesman for the US National Security Council said on Wednesday.

"The president is pleased the leaders have accepted his invitation to gather at Sunnylands, in early 2016,"said NSC spokesman Myles Caggins, without specifying the date of the summit.

Japan’s Kyodo News quoted an ASEAN source on Monday as saying the summit was expected to be on Feb 15 and 16.

"Four ASEAN members — Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam — are also part of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which is the key economic plank of Obama’s economic and security pivot to Asia in response to China’ growing power,"Reuters commented on Friday.

Zhong Feiteng, an Asia-Pacific studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the meeting implies ASEAN’s rising status in US global strategy.

"ASEAN is going to announce the establishment of the ASEAN community by year-end, which will be seen by Washington as a chance to deepen interaction with the regional bloc."

In addition, US ties with Myanmar and Vietnam progressed notably this year, and the Sunnylands meeting will help consolidate the achievements, Zhong said.

"The invitation should be analyzed against the background of Washington’s global strategy. We will closely watch its impact on China, taking account not only of what the US promises at the meeting, but also what it fulfills after the meeting."

Tao Wenzhao, an American studies researcher at the academy, said the meeting is part of US strategy to counterbalance the growing prominence of China in the region.

"The focus of the US rebalancing strategy is at sea, as there is not much to do on land, because China maintains good relations with most of its land neighbors."

"But, of course, the Sunnylands meeting will also look to deepening US relations with the region,"he added.

 lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn