A possible second Trump-Kim summit.
Vietnam last week said it had not been told about the timing or location of a possible second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but that it was confident it could host such an event. Washington earlier in January announced that a summit would be held in February, following landmark talks between Trump and Kim in Singapore last year.
A summit in Vietnam would provide Trump with a distraction from investigations into his alleged links with Russia.
The summit would bolster ASEAN’s claims to be crucial to promoting peace and security in the ‘Indo-Pacific’.
A successful Trump-Kim meeting would be welcomed by Beijing but would not influence US-China trade talks.
Trump would be unlikely to travel to South-east Asia for a second time this year to attend the East Asia Summit in Thailand in November.
