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Biden Seeks to Keep China in Focus by Welcoming ASEAN Leaders

US President Joe Biden speaks in in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP)
US President Joe Biden speaks in in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP)
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Biden Seeks to Keep China in Focus by Welcoming ASEAN Leaders

US President Joe Biden speaks in in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP)
US President Joe Biden speaks in in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP)

President Joe Biden will host Southeast Asian leaders in Washington this week, seeking to show his administration remains focused on the Indo-Pacific and the long-term challenge of China despite the Ukraine crisis.

A two-day summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) begins with a White House dinner on Thursday before talks at the State Department on Friday.

It will be the first time leaders of ASEAN, created in some of the darkest days of the Cold War, gather as a group at the White House. President Barack Obama was the last US leader to host them, at Sunnylands in California in 2016.

Up to eight ASEAN leaders are expected. Myanmar's leader has been excluded over a coup last year and the Philippines is in transition after an election.

The summit takes place ahead of Biden's May 20-24 visit to South Korea and Japan, which includes a plan to meet fellow leaders of the Quad countries - Australia, India and Japan - who share US concerns about China's ambitions to expand its influence in the region and globally.

Biden's Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell spoke at a think tank on Wednesday of a deep sense in the administration of the need not to be distracted from the Indo-Pacific, and said it would seek to increase US investment and engagement in ASEAN countries.

He said China, Myanmar, Taiwan and Ukraine would be among the issues discussed.

"We believe it's critical for other countries to both publicly and privately underscore that what has taken place in Ukraine must never happen in Asia," he said, referring to China's threats to retake Taiwan by force if necessary.

Campbell acknowledged critiques that US engagement with ASEAN had waned in many important areas.

"We have to send a signal that the United States will be a steady partner, and that our strategic interests push us and point us into playing a larger role over time," he said.

Campbell said on Monday there would be "substantial" discussions with ASEAN on technology, education, infrastructure, and that Washington would soon announce plans to better battle illegal fishing in the Pacific.

Kate Rebholz, acting US ambassador to ASEAN said the summit would bring "an ambitious and forward-looking US-ASEAN vision statement" and new initiatives, including partnerships in public health, climate and economic growth.

Even if the summit is largely symbolic and no dramatic advances are to be expected, analysts and diplomats said the fact it was taking place aimed to show that China remains a leading US long-term foreign policy challenge, regardless of Russia's actions in Ukraine.

They said it would likely elevate the current U.S.-ASEAN "strategic partnership" by adding a word to make it a "comprehensive" strategic partnership, bringing it into line with the description of ASEAN's ties with Australia and China.

"The meeting is the message ... that the US is in fact capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, and it's not distracted," Bilahari Kausikan, a former permanent secretary of Singapore's foreign ministry, told the Stimson Center think tank on Monday.

US 'Falls Flat' on Economics
ASEAN countries also share concerns about China and are broadly keen to boost ties with Washington, but they have been frustrated by a US delay in detailing plans for economic engagement since former President Donald Trump quit a regional trade pact in 2017.

At a virtual summit with ASEAN last October, Biden said Washington would start talks about developing a regional economic framework, but diplomats say this is likely to feature only peripherally this week.

Japan's Washington ambassador said Biden's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is likely to be formally launched in Japan, but its details were still under discussion.

Analysts and diplomats say only two of the 10 ASEAN countries - Singapore and the Philippines - are expected to be among the initial group of counties to sign up for the negotiations under IPEF, which does not currently offer the expanded market access Asian countries crave, given Biden's concern for American jobs.

There has also been some frustration that ASEAN leaders will get little personal time with Biden, with no bilateral meetings announced.

An adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, in office since 1985 but making his first White House visit, told Reuters Biden should spend more time with leaders if serious about elevating ties with the region.

The adviser, Kao Kim Hourn, said Cambodia, which has close economic ties to China, would not "choose sides" between Washington and Beijing although US investment in his country was growing. ASEAN, likewise, worked with both under its principle of "inclusiveness," he said.

Analysts say that even though ASEAN countries share US concerns about China, they remain cautious about siding more firmly with Washington, given their predominant economic ties with Beijing and limited US economic incentives.

"The US does a pretty solid job on politics and security, but it falls flat on economics," said Gregory Poling of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It cannot effectively compete with China If it only brings guns and diplomacy to the table. It has to bring cash to put it bluntly, and we've not been good at doing that."

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World

US Homelessness Up 18% as Affordable Housing Remains out of Reach for Many People

The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).
The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).
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US Homelessness Up 18% as Affordable Housing Remains out of Reach for Many People

The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).
The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).

The United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless — a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own.
That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the US, with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve,” HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman said in a statement, adding that the focus should remain on “evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”
Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness — one of the areas that was most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities. Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities impacted by migrants including Denver, Chicago and New York City, according to HUD, while it rose less than 8% in the remaining 373 communities. Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33% jump from last year.
Disasters also played a part in the rise in the count, especially last year's catastrophic Maui wildfire, the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. More than 5,200 people were staying in emergency shelters in Hawaii on the night of the count.
“Increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable, consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing,” Renee Willis, incoming interim CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in a statement. “As advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience have warned, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to increase as more people struggle to afford sky-high housing costs.”
Robert Marbut Jr., the former executive director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness from 2019 to 2021, called the nearly 33% increase in homelessness over the past four years “disgraceful” and said the federal government needs to abandon efforts to prioritize permanent housing.
“We need to focus on treatment of substance use and mental illness, and bring back program requirements, like job training,” Marbut said in an email.
The numbers also come as increasing numbers of communities are taking a hard line against homelessness.
Communities — especially in Western states — have been enforcing bans on camping as public pressure grows to address what some residents say are dangerous and unsanitary living conditions. That follows a 6-3 ruling earlier this year by the Supreme Court that found that outdoor sleeping bans don’t violate the Eighth Amendment. Homeless advocates argued that punishing people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness.
There was some positive news in the count, as homelessness among veterans continued to trend downwards. Homelessness among veterans dropped 8% to 32,882 in 2024. It was an even larger decrease for unsheltered veterans, declining 11% to 13,851 in 2024.
“The reduction in veteran homelessness offers us a clear roadmap for addressing homelessness on a larger scale,” Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said in a statement. “With bipartisan support, adequate funding, and smart policy solutions, we can replicate this success and reduce homelessness nationwide. Federal investments are critical in tackling the country’s housing affordability crisis and ensuring that every American has access to safe, stable housing.”
Several large cities had success bringing down their homeless numbers. Dallas, which worked to overhaul its homeless system, saw a 16% drop in its numbers between 2022 to 2024. Los Angeles, which increased housing for the homeless, saw a drop of 5% in unsheltered homelessness since 2023. California, the most populous state in the US, continued to have the nation's largest homeless population, followed by New York, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts.
The sharp increase in the homeless population over the past two years contrasts with success the US had been having for more than a decade.
Going back to the first 2007 survey, the US made steady progress for about a decade in reducing the homeless population as the government focused particularly on increasing investments to get veterans into housing. The number of homeless people dropped from about 637,000 in 2010 to about 554,000 in 2017.
The numbers ticked up to about 580,000 in the 2020 count and held relatively steady over the next two years as Congress responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with emergency rental assistance, stimulus payments, aid to states and local governments and a temporary eviction moratorium.