Washington — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead the U.S. delegation to a summit of East Asian leaders in Laos this week on his 19th trip to Asia.
The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that Blinken will represent President Joe Biden at the annual East Asia Summit hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chair.
Blinken is scheduled to travel to Laos’ capital Vientiane for meetings on Thursday and Friday before returning home. He was scheduled to join Biden in Germany and Angola over the weekend, but the White House announced the president was postponing the trip due to severe hurricane weather in the United States.
Dan Kritenbrink, the U.S. diplomat for Asia, said deteriorating relations with China, particularly China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea over territorial disputes with smaller neighbors, will be a key issue for Blinken. He said it would be.
Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York late last month, but Kritenbrink could not say whether Blinken plans to hold a separate meeting with Chinese officials in Laos. Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled to attend the summit as a representative.
“It is likely that many (China)-related issues will come up in the context of the ASEAN meeting, including the situation in the South China Sea and China’s continued irresponsible actions to coerce and pressure many people. South China Sea claimants,” Kritenbrink said.
“Channels of communication (with China) remain open, and we will remain focused, as we have always, on responsibly managing our competition with China as well as protecting the national interests of the United States and our allies,” he said. said.
