By Rozanna Latiff and Danial Azhar
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Thailand’s prime minister cancelled his trip to Malaysia ahead of the ASEAN Summit on Saturday due to the death of the kingdom’s Queen Mother Sirikit, and may miss the signing of a ceasefire deal with Cambodia that U.S. President Donald Trump is set to witness this weekend.
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were meeting on Saturday to start a weekend of global diplomacy in the Malaysian capital, with teams from the United States and China holding trade talks alongside the summit.
Trump is due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning on the first stop of his trip through Asia, and was set to watch Cambodia and Thailand sign a broader ceasefire deal after he helped broker an end to a deadly five-day border conflict in July.
A Thai government spokesperson said there would be a discussion on how to proceed with the ceasefire ceremony and whether another official would sign the agreement after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cancelled his trip.
It was unclear whether Anutin would still travel to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
The Thai cabinet is scheduled to meet on Saturday morning to discuss the funeral arrangements.
At its annual meeting, ASEAN plans to press for trade multilateralism and deeper ties with new partners, while managing the fallout from Trump’s global tariff offensive.
It will also welcome East Timor, Asia’s youngest nation, as its 11th member.
Alongside the regional talks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will hold a round of trade talks with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The world’s two biggest economies are looking to find a way forward after Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and other trade curbs starting November 1 in retaliation for China’s vastly expanded export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Danial Azhar; Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; Writing by John Mair)
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