Despite the growing tension brewing between the United States and Russia, the former's Vice President and the latter's President were able to have an informal conversation during the Asian Summit held in Singapore. The two high-ranking leaders were able to converse since they sat next to each other during the summit.
According to people who have insider information about the happening, Pence and Putin discussed the upcoming G20 Summit. They also talked about issues which will be discussed when President Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump meet in Argentina. The G20 Summit is slated to open at the end of November. The Argentinian capital city of Buenos Aires will host the summit.
The encounter between Pence and Putin drew a lot of attention, especially with the backdrop of growing tensions between the two leaders' country. One of the most major issues hanging over the two nations is the allegation that Russia interfered with the last US Presidential election.
The East Asia Summit is attended by 18 nations. Most of these are also members of the larger Association of Southeast Asian Nations. While not located in the region, Russia and the United States were inducted into the East Asia Summit in 2011.
A lot of recent issues were tackled during the summit, especially during the ASEAN session. One of the most important this was when US Vice President Pence criticized Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi for its campaign against Rohingya Muslims.
In his speech, Mr. Pence said that Myanmar's persecution of the Rohingya people has resulted in the exodus of more than 700,000 Muslim to Bangladesh. The incident is one of the most talked about issues of human rights violation in the world right now.
President Trump did not attend the ASEAN summit in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit which was held in Papua New Guinea. Because of this, the US' second highest in command opted to attend these meetings in his stead.
President Trump's decision to snub these two important meetings resulted in criticisms about his commitment towards the Southeast Asian region, a region which has become of the hotbed of its continued struggle for power against China.
Despite criticisms, Vice President Pence said that President Trump is sure to attend the G-20 Summit in Singapore where he is slated to meet with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping. Despite growing tensions drawn from all sides, most notable of which is from China and Russia, Vice President Pence said that he is confident that the United States will remain in a strong position.
