SUNNYLANDS is often dubbed the “Camp David” of the west coast of the United States — a place where national and foreign leaders gather for summit meetings and retreats in a relaxed setting.
US President Barack Obama used the site to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, a meeting now hailed as the “shirtsleeves summit”.
And, in a rare gesture, Obama will welcome 10 Asean leaders for an unprecedented Asean-US Leaders’ Summit at the 200-acre estate on Feb 15 and 16 to mark the upgrading of Asean-US ties to a “strategic partnership”.
Obama arrived in California yesterday, while Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was scheduled to arrive at 8am today (12am Malaysian time) ahead of the summit, to be attended by nine other Asean leaders.
Malaysian ambassador to the US Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin said the gesture by Obama towards Asean and its leaders was exceptional.
“To him, nothing less than Sunnylands. Asean is as important as China,” he told the Malaysian media ahead of Najib’s arrival.
“Obama feels very much at home with Asean. The Obama administration’s pivot to Asia (or ‘rebalance’ towards Asia), especially towards Asean, will be one of his legacies.”
For the record, Obama — one of the US’ most internationalist presidents — has done a lot during his two terms in office to put Asia and Asean firmly on Washington’s foreign policy agenda.
Obama had announced at the 27th Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur in November last year the decision to elevate Asean-US ties, and invited Asean leaders to attend a summit to be held in the US for the first time.
The Sunnylands summit will further solidify his legacy and set the stage for an institutionalised Asean-US framework, when he leaves office early next year.
“Whoever the new president will be, shouldn’t be different,” Awang Adek said.
Najib is expected to deliver an opening address at the summit on Feb 15 following the addresses by Obama and Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong. Laos is the current Asean chair.
All in, there will be three closed-door sessions, including a working dinner on Feb 15 to be attended by the leaders and an accompanying minister from each country.
A joint statement will be issued at the end of the summit. Obama will close the summit with a press conference following a photo session with Asean leaders.
The Sunnylands summit comes as the US, Malaysia and 10 other countries signed a deal on Feb 4 to create one of the world’s most ambitious free trade agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Other Asean members in the TPP are Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam. Three Asean members (Indonesia, the Phillippines and Thailand) have expressed interest in joining the pact.
On the table at Sunnylands include issues pertaining to peace, security and prosperity. Maritime issues, especially pertaining to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and overlapping territorial claims, will be raised.
Several Asean states are embroiled in an increasingly bitter spat with China over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
US State Department officials have insisted the Asean-US summit is “not anti-China”.
A. Jalil Hamid from Los Angeles