“Now that we are together again here in Cambodia, I look forward to building even stronger progress than we have already made, and I want to thank the Prime Minister of Colombia for his leadership as ASEAN chair and for hosting us all. ” Mr. Biden said during a meeting with his counterparts at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh. He was referring to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who currently chairs the 10-member regional bloc. The president, who is on a trip with stops at the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, Asean in Phnom Penh and the G20 summit in Indonesia, made a similar slip while speaking to reporters at the White House recently. Mr. Biden, who turns 80 on Nov. 20, said this week he plans to run for re-election in 2024, with a final decision likely early next year. His occasional verbal stumbles and tendency to go off script during live performances have been taken by Republican critics as evidence that he is too old for the job. In June, Biden incorrectly said Switzerland would join NATO instead of Sweden during the transatlantic alliance’s summit in Madrid. Mr Biden made a key line in his State of the Union address in March, calling Ukrainians “the Iranian people”, leading to further questions about his mental acuity. In an embarrassing slip, he said: “Putin may surround Kyiv with tanks, but he will never win the hearts and souls of the Iranian people.” Supporters call it age-critical and say the president, who overcame a childhood stutter, has touted in public speeches for decades. In ASEAN, Mr. Biden also raised concerns with Mr. Hun Sen about Chinese activities at its Rim naval base, stressing the importance of full transparency, the White House said.
