Biden Skips Key Summit, Angering Officials In Southeast Asia

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to travel to Asia for diplomatic meetings in India and Vietnam, but on the trip he’s skipping two major summits in the neighborhood, rankling diplomats in Southeast Asia and potentially undercutting Washington’s ongoing power struggle in the region against China.

Biden is a no-show at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and coinciding East Asia Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, which began on Monday and runs through Thursday, sending Vice President Kamala Harris in his place. If from Washington’s point of view the decision has…