UPDATE 4-U.S. postpones summit with ASEAN leaders amid coronavirus fears -sources

(Adds U.S.-ASEAN Business Council statement)
By Alexandra Alper and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The United States has decided
to postpone a meeting with leaders of Southeast Asian countries
it had planned to host on March 14 due to worries about the
coronavirus outbreak, two U.S. officials familiar with the
matter said on Friday.
President Donald Trump had invited leaders of the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to meet in Las
Vegas after he did not attend a summit with the group in Bangkok
in November. "As the international community works together to defeat the
novel coronavirus, the United States, in consultation with ASEAN
partners, has made the difficult decision to postpone the ASEAN
leaders meeting," one of the sources, a senior administration
official, told Reuters.
The official added that the United States values its
relationships with ASEAN member nations and looks forward to
future meetings.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department provided an
identical statement.
The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council said it was aware of the
decision and said a major technology summit it was planning on
the sidelines of the leaders' meeting was also being postponed.
"We look forward to working closely with U.S. and ASEAN
leadership to ensure the success of this important engagement at
a later date,” the council's vice president, Elizabeth Dugan,
said in statement.
The postponements come amid growing fears that the virus
will spread in the United States as countries report new
infections, companies announce curbs on employees' travel and
global stock markets continue to plummet. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United
States is still relatively small at around 60, most of them
repatriated American passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise
ship that docked in Japan.
The coronavirus outbreak started in China late last year.
The latest World Health Organization figures indicate over
82,000 people have been infected, with more than 2,700 deaths in
China and 57 deaths in 46 other countries. While the outbreak appears to be easing in China, it has
surged elsewhere and countries other than China now account for
about three-quarters of new infections.
China is not a member of ASEAN, which groups Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Although the State Department has repeatedly stated that
ASEAN is at the heart of its strategy to maintain a "free and
open Indo-Pacific" in the face of rising Chinese power, Trump's
decision not to attend the Bangkok meeting had raised questions
about the U.S. commitment to the region.
Japan's Nikkei Asian Review earlier this month quoted
diplomatic sources as saying that leaders from Vietnam, Laos,
Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand had planned to attend the Las
Vegas summit.