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Southeast Asian leaders sharply criticised Myanmar's junta as a regional summit opened on Tuesday without a representative from the country, following its top general's exclusion for ignoring a peace roadmap agreed six months ago.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had said it would accept a non-political figure from Myanmar, but the junta on Monday rejected that, saying it would only agree to its leader or a minister attending.

In an unprecedented snub to the leader of a member state, ASEAN had decided to sideline junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led a Feb. 1 coup that spiralled into violence and nationwide chaos, for his failure to cease hostilities, allow humanitarian access and start dialogue with opponents, as agreed with ASEAN in April.

The decision was a huge insult to Myanmar's military and a rare, bold step by a regional grouping known for its code of consensus, non-interference and engagement.

"Today, ASEAN did not expel Myanmar from ASEAN's framework. Myanmar abandoned its right," said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who will become the group's chairman next year.

"Now we are in the situation of ASEAN minus one. It is not because of ASEAN, but because of Myanmar."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said ASEAN had a slot ready for Myanmar, but it chose not to join.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo in his remarks to leaders lamented Myanmar's "unwelcome attitude" towards ASEAN's diplomatic efforts, Retno said.

"ASEAN's decision to invite a Myanmar representative on a non-political level was a heavy one, but it had to be done," she said.

"The president reminded that it's important for us to honour the principles of non-interference. But on the other hand, we're obligated to uphold other principles ... like democracy, good governance, respect for human rights, and a constitutional government."

Myanmar's military, which ruled the country for 49 of the past 60 years, has objected strongly, to ASEAN's uncharacteristically strict response, accusing it of departing from its norms and of allowing itself to be influenced by other countries, including the United States.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a retired general considered the ASEAN leader closest to Myanmar's coup-makers, urged the country to implement a five-point roadmap it agreed with ASEAN.

He said the issue was crucial for the bloc's reputation and a test of its resolve.

CREDIBILITY AT STAKE

"ASEAN's constructive role in addressing this situation is of paramount importance and our action on this matter shall have a bearing on ASEAN's credibility in the eyes of the international community," Prayuth said.

ASEAN made the call days after its special envoy Erywan Yusof said the ruling State Administrative Council (SAC) denied him sufficient access, including to ousted, democratically-elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is charged with multiple crimes.

Prayuth said he was hopeful the junta would trust ASEAN's intentions and that Erywan could visit Myanmar soon and make an "important first step in the process of confidence-building".

Myanmar security forces have killed more than 1,000 people and detained thousands more, many tortured and beaten, according to United Nations envoys, who say army offensives in civilian areas have caused massive displacement.

Myanmar has rejected that as biased and exaggerated by unreliable sources and blames "terrorists" allied with a shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met on Monday with representatives of the NUG, an alliance of pro-democracy groups, militias and ethnic minority armies formed after the coup. read more

ASEAN leaders were due also to collectively meet leaders of the United States, China and South Korea, while U.S. President Joe Biden will attend a joint session by video link.

Some analysts predict a lengthy standoff between Myanmar and ASEAN after a crisis they said has exposed the bloc's weaknesses and its need to take a different approach.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said ASEAN's best chance of success was to engage outside powers and all sides in Myanmar.

"The non-interference principle no longer holds because Myanmar's armed forces lowered the standards of acceptable governance so low that it has alienated and undermined ASEAN in the international community," Thitinan said. (Reuters)

Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend a Rome summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in person, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

China will be represented at the summit on Saturday and Sunday by its foreign minister while Xi, whose presence had been in doubt for some time, will join the summit remotely, the source said.

The Kremlin said last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be in Rome for the summit, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have also said they will not come. read more

The source said the absences would not compromise the chances of making good progress at the summit, which will focus mainly on climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gathering hopes to achieve recognition from G20 leaders of the importance of limiting global warming to 1.5 decrees Celsius, the source said, and a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by "around the middle of the century." read more

The wording on these issues will be closely watched for whether it is stronger than at a meeting of G20 energy and environment ministers in Naples in July.

At that meeting, ministers failed to reach unanimous agreement on setting dates for ending fossil fuel subsidies and phasing out coal power, and the Italian presidency asked leaders to try to bridge the differences at the Rome summit.

India also distanced itself from the part of the communique underlining the need to achieve net-zero emissions around mid-century, and suggested that emissions should be considered on a per capita basis". read more

The G20, whose countries account for 80% of global carbon emissions, is considered an important stepping stone before the United Nations COP26 climate summit next week in Scotland.

The G20 also aims to underline that rich countries should stump up $100 billion dollars per year to help poorer nations adapt to climate change.

This goal was supposed to be achieved by 2020, according to an agreement reached in 2009, but has not been met. (Reuters)

Singapore will allow quarantine-free entry to travellers vaccinated against COVID-19 from Australia and Switzerland from Nov. 8, the city-state's aviation regulator said on Tuesday.

Singapore is slowly re-opening its borders and has expanded quarantine-free travel to nearly a dozen countries, including Germany, Canada, France, Britain and the United States, under its Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) programme.

Visitors can travel to Singapore under the programme if they have been fully vaccinated and tested negative in COVID-19 tests.

Singapore has been reporting more than 3,000 daily infections in recent weeks, although most are asymptomatic or mild. Over 80% of Singapore's 5.45 million population has been vaccinated.

Last week, the United States advised citizens against travel to Singapore and raised its alert for the city-state to its highest risk level. Germany has also classified Singapore as a "high-risk area". (Reuters)

U.S. President Joe Biden will join Southeast Asian leaders for a virtual summit on Tuesday, the first time in four years that Washington will engage at the top level with a bloc seen as key to countering an increasingly assertive China.

The United States has not met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at the presidential level since Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, attended an ASEAN-U.S. meeting in Manila in 2017. During that time, U.S. relations with China deteriorated, becoming their worst in decades.

A day after the ASEAN summit, Biden will participate in the broader East Asia Summit, which brings together ASEAN and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region, a senior U.S. administration official said.

"The President's participation in these summits demonstrates our commitment to the region and to a free-and-open Indo-Pacific and to supporting the security and prosperity of our partners," the U.S. official said.

Analysts say Biden's meeting with the 10-nation bloc reflects his administration's efforts to engage allies and partners in a collective effort to push back against China.

U.S. officials have, however, avoided specific mention of China in the run-up to the meetings as they work to set up a virtual summit between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this year. read more

The White House said Biden will announce plans to provide up to $102 million to expand the U.S. strategic partnership with ASEAN, which is currently chaired by Brunei, with funding going towards health, climate, economic and education programs. read more

Biden is also expected to assure ASEAN that a recent U.S. focus on engagement with India, Japan and Australia in the so-called Quad grouping and a deal to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines are not intended to supplant ASEAN's central regional role.

Edgard Kagan, senior director for East Asia at the White House National Security Council, stressed last week that Washington does not see the Quad as "an Asian NATO" and that it was not intended to compete with ASEAN. read more

He said Washington had an interest in working with ASEAN to ensure supply-chain resilience, on climate, and to address "common challenges on maritime issues" - an apparent reference to China's broad claims in the disputed South China Sea.

While planning to provide a modest sum to promote trade with ASEAN, Biden has given no sign of any plan to return to a regional trade framework Trump withdrew from in 2017.

Analysts said ASEAN leaders would be anxious to hear how Washington plans to engage further on trade, investment and infrastructure and of any U.S. plans to step up provision of COVID-19 vaccines to the region, which has been hard hit by the pandemic.

An Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the lack of an economic element in U.S. regional engagement was a major gap at a time when countries were expanding economic ties with China.

Kagan said it was critical for the credibility of the Quad that it deliver on a pledge it made in March to supply a billion COVID-19 vaccines to Southeast Asia by the end of 2022.

That plan stalled after India, the world's largest vaccine producer, banned exports in April amid a massive domestic COVID outbreak.

The ASEAN meetings will take place without Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing, who overthrew a civilian government on Feb. 1 - a rare exclusion for a grouping usually known for non-interference.

Kagan called ASEAN's move to exclude the Myanmar leader a significant step but said more needed to be done to address the challenges that country is facing. (Reuters)