Blinken to shore up US relationships in Asia amid political uncertainty at home

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to Asia this week to reassure allies and partners of U.S. support, the State Department's top official for Asia said on Monday, as the November U.S. presidential election casts uncertainty over Washington's foreign policy.

U.S. tensions with China will provide the backdrop to the trip. Blinken is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of regional meetings in Laos, according to Assistant Secretary of State Dan Kritenbrink, who briefed reporters on the trip.

Blinken will hold security talks with U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines before visiting Singapore and Mongolia, Kritenbrink said. He will also stop in Vietnam to attend the funeral of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who died last week, the State Department said.


The trip comes at the end of a tumultuous month in Washington. President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he will not run for reelection as expected and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to replace him. The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt.

Asked what Blinken will say to allies about Biden's decision to step aside and whether that could bring changes in policy, Kritenbrink said the message would be that America is "all-in on the Indo-Pacific."

"We do try to reassure allies and partners that there are certain fundamentals, I think, about America's engagement that are not going to change that have been consistent," he said, citing American investments and bipartisan support in Washington for the administration's approach to the region.

Trump, who has been leading in the polls ahead of the Nov. 5 election, launched a trade war against China while in the White House, and as a candidate has suggested he would impose tariffs of 60% or higher on all Chinese goods.

Trump has signaled he would demand Taiwan boost its defense spending in the face of potential Chinese aggression if elected. Allies of the former president have assured Japan and South Korea he would continue Biden's engagement with them aimed at countering China and North Korea.

REGIONAL SECURITY
In Laos' capital, Vientiane, Blinken will attend meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on July 26-27, where China's Wang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also expected to attend. A North Korean official would also likely be in attendance, Kritenbrink said.

Officials there are expected to discuss the conflict in Myanmar after a military junta seized power three years ago. The U.S. expects Myanmar to be represented by a nonpolitical official as it has been at previous meetings since the coup, Kritenbrink said.

Kritenbrink said Washington welcomed an announcement by Manila on Sunday that it had reached an understanding on the resupply of a Filipino naval ship beached on the Second Thomas Shoal.

In Tokyo, Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet their Japanese counterparts on July 28 to build on the success of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to Washington in April by focusing on implementation of key outcomes from the prime minister's visit, he said.

At a summit in April, Japan and the U.S. announced plans to upgrade their military alliance, including the U.S. military command in Japan and more joint development of defense equipment.