State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and ASEAN regional leaders are going to arrive in Bangkok, Thailand today (November 1) to attend 35th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.

The meeting was scheduled on October 31 but the leaders’ meetings will start on November 2.

In addition to the leaders of ASEAN bloc, the representatives from China, Russia, Japan, the U.S and ROK are going to attend the summit.

Regional criticism appeared that the United State would send only senior officials and party, but important leaders won’t attend.

Political observers reviewed that the US’s attention to Indo-Pacific became weaker. The U.S seemed to turn a blind eye to China’s strong effect on regional politics and economy in ASEAN bloc. Recently, US President Trump announced he wouldn’t attend the ASEAN Summit.

Trump attended the ASEAN Summit only once in Manila in the Philippines after he became a US president, but failed to attend it in Singapore in 2018.

US President Donald Trump suspended $1.3 billion worth of duty-free trade for Thai items, including seafood, under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

President Trump is reported to have sent a letter to US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the president of the Senate, vice president Mike Pence, advising them of his decision.

The letter allegedly claims that Mr Trump had suspended duty-free treatment of some Thai products, because the government had not taken steps to ‘afford workers in Thailand internationally recognised worker rights’, including freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Suspension from the scheme, which last year saw some $4.5 billion in Thai exports enter the US at reduced tariff rates, will come into effect commencing on April 25.

The officials from the economic circle of the Thailand said that concerning GSP suspension, there was a plan to negotiate between Thailand and the U.S to reach the agreement.

Translated and Edited by Win Htut