“Now that we are together again here in Cambodia, I look forward to making even more 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. ” 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. US President Joe Biden attends the ASEAN-US Summit during the ASEAN Summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 12, 2022. REUTERS/Cindy Liu The president, who is on a whirlwind trip with stops at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, ASEAN in Phnom Penh and the G20 summit in Indonesia, made a similar mistake while speaking to reporters at the White House recently. The Democratic president, 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. Biden’s occasional verbal stumbles and tendency to go off script during live appearances have been taken by his Republican critics as evidence that he is too old for the job. Supporters call this ageism and say the president, who overcame a childhood stutter, has been making public speaking ads for decades. Report by Nandita Bose and Jiraporn Kuhakan. Written by Kanupriya Kapoor. Editor: Christina Fincher Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
