Forget APEC; talk to Trump alone, PM told

Scott Morrison has been encouraged to deepen ties with Donald Trump by seeking a one-on-one meeting in Washington.

Vice President Mike Pence. Picture: AP

Scott Morrison has been encouraged to deepen ties with Donald Trump by seeking a one-on-one meeting in Washington after the US President cancelled any plans to visit Australia by pulling out of two major Asia summits.

US Vice-President Mike Pence will stand in for Mr Trump at the US-ASEAN and East Asia Summit in Singapore and the APEC meeting in Papua New Guinea to be held later in November.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings yesterday said Mr Trump’s decision to skip the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum meeting should not be seen as the region being downgraded by the Trump administration

“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 said.

“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.”

He said it was better outcome for Mr Pence to attend APEC, 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 said.

“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 said Mr Trump had successfully cultivated 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”.

The November meeting will be the third time a US President will not attend an APEC summit since the first leaders forum in Seattle in 1993, an initiative pushed by former prime minister Paul Keating.

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 missed it since Barack Obama could not attend in 2013 because of a federal government shutdown in Washington.

Mr Morrison, speaking in Jakarta at the weekend, said he expected to see Mr Trump at the G20 meeting in Argentina later in November. “I spoke to President Trump … last weekend and we had a good chat about all of these issues. We indeed did speak about APEC as well and the forums in our region,” Mr Morrison said.

“Vice-President Pence is a good and decent man and speaks with the authority of the President and I’ll be looking forward to seeing him in all of those fora … My first responsibilities are back at home and I’m sure the President has similar views in terms of where his first responsibilities lie.”

Instead of attending the Asian summits, Mr Trump will go to ­Europe for the 100th commemoration of the World War I armistice in France, then stop off in Ireland before attending the G-20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires.