US ties with SE Asia face setback
Afp, Washington
US ties with Southeast Asia are facing a setback as President George W Bush cancelled his scheduled first summit with Asean leaders and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to the region for annual talks seems uncertain. US officials have informed Singapore, host of the much-touted US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, that the September 5 date for the talks was now "not convenient," Asean diplomats said. September is critical for Bush as a much-awaited assessment of the situation in insurgency-wracked Iraq would be released that month amid a revolt within his own Republican party over failed war strategy. "We are actually disappointed," one Asean diplomat told AFP. The landmark summit was aimed at highlighting 30 years of official ties between Washington and Asean, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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