White House picks California site for meeting with Asian leaders

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama, center right, and other leaders of the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries pose for a photo in Manila, Philippines, ahead of the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The leaders are, from left, Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, Obama, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, Peru's President Ollanta Humala Tasso, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang. AP/Susan Walsh

HONOLULU — The White House says leaders from Southeast Asia will gather in California in mid-February for their association's first summit in the United States.

President Barack Obama had announced in Malaysia last month that the U.S. would be the host for leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The administration has sought to improve military and economic ties with those nations as part of what it describes as a "rebalance" to Asia and the Pacific.

The meeting will take place at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, the same site where Obama and China's president, Xi Jinping, held an unusually informal summit back in 2013.

The White House announced the summit while the president is in Hawaii for his annual holiday vacation.

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