Biden slips up on name of Asean summit host, refers to Cambodia as Colombia

U.S. President Joe Biden attends the ASEAN-US summit during the ASEAN summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 12, 2022. REUTERS

PHNOM PENH — U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday referred to Cambodia, which is hosting an international summit led by Southeast Asian leaders, as Colombia.

“Now that we’re back together here in Cambodia, I look forward to building even stronger progress than we’ve already made, and I want to thank the Prime Minister of Colombia for his leadership as Asean chair and for hosting all of us,” Biden said while meeting his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh.

He was referring to Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, who is currently chairing the 10-member regional bloc.

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 slip-up while speaking to reporters at the White House recently.

The Democratic president, who turns 80 on Nov. 20, this week said he intends to run for re-election in 2024, with a final decision likely early next year.

Biden’s occasional verbal stumbles and tendency to meander off script during live appearances have been seized on by his Republican critics as proof he’s too old for the job. Supporters call that ageism and say the president, who overcame a childhood stutter, has been ad-libbing in public speeches for decades.

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