The United States has apparently decided to postpone the ASEAN Summit that was scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next month due to fears running around the novel coronavirus. The following statement was issued by a senior administrator on Friday.
“As the international community works together to defeat the novel coronavirus, the United States, in consultation with ASEAN partners, has made the difficult decision to postpone the ASEAN leaders meeting,” said the official on condition of not being named. President Trump hosts the leaders from the Association of South Asian Nations which was to be held on 14th March.
The officials of the United States also quoted that they value the relationships with the nations of these critical regions and that they look forward to future meetings. The announcement which hardly comes as a shock was cemented when a second case of the novel virus was found in the states. These announcements might come as a bit contradictory as the President of the United States has played a rather loose hand tackling the virus even after the inception of the virus was found rooting in the states.
Trump, however, chose to skip ASEAN Summits and its counterpart the East Asian Summit last year in Bangkok. He instead chose to send his proxy Robert O’Brien, who also serves as his national security advisor for the East Asian Summit.
Even the WHO has subsided that there are now more cases that are being recorded outside China than inside the country since inception last December. The latest numbers indicate that 2,700 people have succumbed to death and over 78,000 more infected. Outside of China, the numbers indicate that there have been over 50 deaths and over 3,600 infected cases have been reported.
The following effect virtually covers the efforts that the U.S. has spent showcasing its commitment towards other Asian countries.
