Forget APEC, PM Scott Morrison urged to talk to Donald Trump alone
SCOTT Morrison has been encouraged to seek a “one-on-one” meeting with Donald Trump to foster relations between the two after the US President ditched two major Asia-Pacific summits.
National
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PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has been told to talk to Donald Trump “alone” if he wants to deepen ties with the US President.
According to The Australian, the prime minister should seek a one-on-one meeting with Mr Trump after the US President ditched any plans to visit Australia by pulling out of two major Asia summits.
US Vice President Mike Pence will attend the US-ASEAN and East Asia Summit in Singapore and the APEC meeting in Papua New Guinea to be held in November on behalf of Mr Trump.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings told The Australian that Mr Trump’s decision not to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting should not be seen as a sign the Trump administration was disregarding the Asia-Pacific region.
“I’ve been thinking for a long time that Trump wouldn’t come to APEC … because he very clearly does not like multilateral meetings. He seems to be very awkward and uncomfortable at these gatherings,” Mr Jennings told The Australian.
“APEC also this year being in Port Moresby, it’s just very difficult logistically to manage. I know the US embassy was contemplating the possibility that he might operate out of Cairns or something of that nature. So I kind of had a hunch he wouldn’t come.”
Mr Jennings said the decision to send Mr Pence was a smart one, saying Mr Trump would have been a “magnet” for protesters.
“It seems pretty clear to me that what Trump likes is one-on-one bilateral meetings,” he told The Australian.
“I’d encourage Scott Morrison to think about opportunities that have that type of engagement.
“I would probably see it as being better to meet in the US.
“If what we are interested in doing is promoting the bilateral relationship rather than creating theatre for people who are opposed to the alliance, the best thing Scott Morrison can do is to make it a priority to meet Trump in Washington DC or at Mar-a-Lago or at some other venue.”
Mr Jennings pointed to Mr Trump’s good working relationships with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron because they had “gone out of their way to create opportunities for one-on-one meetings”.
Mr Abe, in particular, has been a frequent visitor to the White House.
The APEC meeting will be the third time a US President has missed the summit since the first leaders forum in Seattle in 1993, while Mr Trump’s absence from the US-Association of Southeast Asian Nation and East Asia Summit will be the first time a US President has not attended since Barack Obama in 2013, due to a federal government shutdown in Washington.
