A draft version of the chair’s statement for this week’s East Asia Summit reflects members’ varying stances toward the US and China, nodding to both powers but avoiding any direct mention of their regional initiatives, Nikkei Asian Review reports. Notably absent when regional powers such as China, Japan and India seek to enlist support for a multilateral trading system will be US President Donald Trump, whose decision to skip the Asia summit has raised questions about his commitment to a regional strategy aimed at checking China’s rise, according to Reuters. Vice President Mike Pence, who will instead come, told reporters on Sunday that Trump’s decision to skip the summit is “not in the least” a snub.