Trump convenes leaders in Washington to launch new ‘Peace Council’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders and envoys from a group of largely autocratic nations are arriving in Washington for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s "Peace Council."

Originally established to implement Trump’s vision for the future of the Gaza Strip, the body has since expanded. Trump has characterized the council as "the most important international body in history."

Traditional global powers and U.S. allies have raised concerns that the American-led organization is an attempt to bypass the United Nations. Critics describe the group as a "pay-to-play" club that operates according to the whims of a single individual.

It remains unclear how many of the more than 20 member nations will attend the summit. Some governments, including Italy and Greece, have opted to send observers rather than official representatives.

Many founding members are military or autocratic regimes. The watchdog group Freedom House ranks several of these nations as "Not Free," including Egypt (18/100), Turkey (33/100), Cambodia (23/100), and Kazakhstan (23/100).

Other participating members, such as Indonesia and Pakistan, are classified by the organization as "Partly Free."

The formation of the "Peace Council" underscores a hallmark of the Trump administration’s foreign policy: a pivot toward transactional, bilateral deal-making at the expense of traditional multilateral institutions like the United Nations. The council’s roster reveals a shift away from alliances rooted in shared democratic values, favoring instead a coalition of states seeking Washington’s favor regardless of their domestic political structures.

This represents the emergence of a more fluid global order, one where personal loyalty to the U.S. president may carry more weight than long-standing treaty commitments. By engaging leaders from Egypt, Turkey, and Kazakhstan, the Trump administration signals a willingness to partner with autocratic regimes to secure geopolitical objectives, effectively de-prioritizing human rights and governance standards in the process.

In Southeast Asia, the inclusion of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet is a particularly potent signal. The move effectively legitimizes a leadership transition widely viewed as non-democratic, potentially eroding the leverage of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in advocating for regional democratic norms. For Vietnam, this shift presents a direct challenge to its "Bamboo Diplomacy." Hanoi now faces a geopolitical landscape where institutional frameworks are increasingly sidelined by high-stakes personal diplomacy, forcing a recalibration of how it navigates regional security and economic structures.

Cộng đồng người Mỹ gốc Việt, đặc biệt là những người có ký ức về việc trốn chạy khỏi các chế độ độc tài, có thể sẽ theo dõi chặt chẽ việc chính quyền Hoa Kỳ hợp tác với các nhà lãnh đạo từ những quốc gia bị xếp hạng 'Không tự do' như Campuchia. Điều này tạo ra một sự mâu thuẫn giữa chính sách đối ngoại thực dụng của Mỹ và các giá trị về tự do, dân chủ mà nhiều người trong cộng đồng trân trọng.