Last week in Brussels, US President Joe Biden suggested that Russia should be removed from the Group of Twenty, or G20 as it is more commonly known, the economic forum of industrialised and developing countries. He reiterated that with the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, it could not be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and the international community. Mr Biden's comment sent a shockwave through Asean capitals. During the second and third week of November, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand are hosting different summits with Russia, as a key member, along with China and the US and its allies. These meetings are the G20, East Asia Summit and Apec leaders' meeting. They could be two hubristic weeks of summits.
Mr Biden's new hardline branding of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal and a butcher prompted the foreign ministers from those three Asean member states to hold an informal consultation virtually last week. They discussed what the common response to the invitation should be and the participation of member countries during the November summits. During the exchanges, they discussed various scenarios which could play out later this year. In international politics, November is still eight months away, so anything is still possible, pending the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
