<p>US President Donald Trump has invited Southeast Asian leaders to meet next month in Las Vegas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday, after a summit, last year was scrapped.</p>.<p>Pompeo confirmed the date when asked at a news conference whether fears over the coronavirus outbreak would delay the summit with members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.</p>.<p>"The ASEAN summit is still, we're working our way through it for ... the second weekend in March in Las Vegas," Pompeo said.</p>.<p>Diplomats said that the summit would involve Trump and is scheduled to take place on March 12 in the desert gambling haven.</p>.<p>The United States began sounding out Southeast Asian leaders about visiting after Chile canceled a Pacific Rim summit scheduled for November in the wake of major demonstrations.</p>.<p>Trump had likewise skipped an ASEAN summit and parallel East Asia Summit last year in Bangkok.</p>.<p>He instead sent his national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, in the lowest-level participation ever by the United States in the East Asia Summit.</p>.<p>Most ASEAN leaders snubbed a meeting with O'Brien, sending junior officials who were of more parallel rank.</p>.<p>The low-level presence in Bangkok came after years of US efforts to show that the United States is committed to Asia in the face of a rising China.</p>.<p>In Bangkok, O'Brien renewed the US call for freedom of navigation and accused China of using "intimidation" to stop ASEAN nations from exploiting resources in the South China Sea.</p>
<p>US President Donald Trump has invited Southeast Asian leaders to meet next month in Las Vegas, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday, after a summit, last year was scrapped.</p>.<p>Pompeo confirmed the date when asked at a news conference whether fears over the coronavirus outbreak would delay the summit with members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.</p>.<p>"The ASEAN summit is still, we're working our way through it for ... the second weekend in March in Las Vegas," Pompeo said.</p>.<p>Diplomats said that the summit would involve Trump and is scheduled to take place on March 12 in the desert gambling haven.</p>.<p>The United States began sounding out Southeast Asian leaders about visiting after Chile canceled a Pacific Rim summit scheduled for November in the wake of major demonstrations.</p>.<p>Trump had likewise skipped an ASEAN summit and parallel East Asia Summit last year in Bangkok.</p>.<p>He instead sent his national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, in the lowest-level participation ever by the United States in the East Asia Summit.</p>.<p>Most ASEAN leaders snubbed a meeting with O'Brien, sending junior officials who were of more parallel rank.</p>.<p>The low-level presence in Bangkok came after years of US efforts to show that the United States is committed to Asia in the face of a rising China.</p>.<p>In Bangkok, O'Brien renewed the US call for freedom of navigation and accused China of using "intimidation" to stop ASEAN nations from exploiting resources in the South China Sea.</p>