The US has delayed a regional ASEAN summit scheduled to take place in Las Vegas this month due to fears about the spread of COVID-19, a senior administration official said 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,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
ASEAN leaders were scheduled to be hosted by US President Donald Trump on March 14.
Photo: AP
The US “values our relationships with the nations of this critical region, and looks forward to future meetings,” the official said.
The announcement came as health officials in California confirmed the US’ second case believed to have been transmitted to a person who did not travel overseas or come in contact with anyone known to be infected.
Trump has played down fears of a major outbreak in the US, even as infections ricochet worldwide.
There are now more daily cases being recorded outside of China than inside the country, where the virus first emerged in December last year, the WHO said.
More than 2,700 people have died in China and about 78,000 have been infected. There have been more than 50 deaths and 3,600 cases in dozens of other nations, raising fears of a pandemic.
Trump last year skipped an ASEAN summit and parallel East Asia Summit in Bangkok.
He instead sent US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, in the lowest-level participation ever by the US in the East Asia Summit.
The move came after years of US efforts to show that Washington is committed to Asia in the face of a rising China.
In Japan, major cherry blossom festivals have been canceled due to an outbreak of COVID-19, the latest in a growing list of events quashed as the virus spreads globally.
The traditional spring celebrations in Tokyo and Osaka, which attract millions of people wanting to seeing the white and pink flowers, would not go ahead as planned next month.
“We are sincerely sorry for those who were looking forward to the viewing ... but please give us your understanding,” the Japan Mint said in Osaka on Friday.
Other cherry blossom events — feverishly anticipated by locals and tourists — are likely to follow suit, local media reported.
The organizers of Tokyo’s Nakameguro Cherry Blossom Festival said that people could still enjoy the blooming trees that grow along public roads.
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS