By AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host the leaders of the for a special summit in Washington next month, the White House announced Monday.
The meeting of the 10-member ASEAN will be held March 28-29 and is being billed by the White House as an opportunity to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the bloc and a chance to mark 45 years of U.S.-ASEAN relations.
“It is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration to serve as a strong, reliable partner and to strengthen an empowered and unified ASEAN to address the challenges of our time,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
The ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ASEAN barred from the last annual , instead restricting the nation’s participation to non-political representatives. That policy is expected to remain in place for the March summit, according to a Biden administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The summit comes as Biden has sought to make a top foreign policy priority amid growing concerns about . Biden has criticized Beijing for in northwest China, suppression of , against the self-ruled island of Taiwan and more.
Biden participated in the October summit, where he announced more than in new U.S. spending in ASEAN countries on health programs, a new climate initiative, programs to assist with the economic recovery from and education programs.
It marked the first time since 2017, when President Donald Trump participated in the summit, that a U.S. president took part in a meeting of the bloc.