Trump's absence from Asian summits sends mixed signals to America's allies

IT was just a little under three months ago when US President Donald Trump accepted an invitation by President Halimah Yacob to make his inaugural state visit to Singapore in November.

That would have been the first such visit by an American president in over a decade, and would have also been his first official meeting with Madam Halimah. The state visit was also timed to coincide with Singapore's hosting of two high-level events - the annual US-Asean Summit and the East Asia Summit - which Mr Trump would presumably have attended.

Three months is a long time in the Trump administration these days, so it was perhaps not too big a surprise when the White House announced last Friday that Mr Trump would skip the two Singapore summits (and the concurrent state visit) as well as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Papua New Guinea. His deputy, Vice-President Mike Pence, will be present at those events instead.