U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on the launch of the U.S.-Afghan Consultative Mechanism on the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., on July 28, 2022.
Credit score: State Division photograph by Ron Przysucha
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will depart this week for a five-nation tour of Southeast Asia and Africa, amid the rising tensions with China and Russia over Taiwan and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In a assertion Friday, the State Division mentioned that Blinken will first journey to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the place he’ll attend a lot of occasions related to the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Overseas Ministers’ Assembly from August 3-5. Blinken will then go to the Philippines, earlier than flying on to Africa, the place he’ll cease in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.
Whereas in Phnom Penh, Blinken will signify Washington on the U.S.-ASEAN Ministerial Assembly, the East Asia Summit Overseas Ministers’ Assembly, and the ASEAN Regional Discussion board. In keeping with the State Division, Blinken will use these alternatives to “emphasize the US’ dedication to ASEAN centrality,” along with addressing “the COVID-19 pandemic, financial cooperation, the struggle towards local weather change, the disaster in [Myanmar], and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.”
Blinken’s attendance at these conferences comes amid a battle between Washington, Beijing, and Moscow for affect within the World South, as tensions between the three nations improve.
The latter two of those ASEAN-hosted conferences are newsworthy as a result of each Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese language Overseas Minister Wang Yi are anticipated to attend. This units up a probably awkward encounter with the highest U.S. diplomat, amid the tensions over Ukraine and Taiwan. The latter has been notably notable as of late, with Beijing vociferously protesting reported plans by U.S. Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to go to the island.
These encounters come after Blinken spoke to Lavrov by cellphone on Friday for the primary time since earlier than the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a day after President Joe Biden spoke for 2 hours with China’s paramount chief Xi Jinping. The final time Wang and Blinken met was finally month’s assembly of overseas ministers from the G-20 group of countries in Bali, Indonesia.
In keeping with The Related Press, “there was no speedy indication” that Blinken would meet individually in Phnom Penh with both Wang or Lavrov.
Whereas Cambodia is much less the topic of Blinken’s go to than the backdrop, the State Division mentioned that whereas in Phnom Penh, Blinken would take the chance to carry sideline conferences with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Overseas Minister Prak Sokhonn to “focus on U.S. assist for ASEAN and efforts to strengthen our bilateral relationship with Cambodia.”
Relations between Phnom Penh and Washington have been in a dire state for a while, as Washington has grown involved about Beijing’s rising affect within the nation, notably its function within the refurbishment of a Cambodian naval base, at the same time as Hun Sen’s authorities has accused the U.S. of utilizing democracy promotion to intervene within the nation’s politics. Whether or not the bilateral conferences end in any substantial enchancment in relations stays unlikely, given the entrenched distrust on either side, although Blinken might achieve addressing broader problems with salience to Cambodia’s chairmanship of ASEAN, such because the more and more determined state of affairs in Myanmar.
Blinken’s subsequent cease within the Philippines will give him an opportunity to examine in with the brand new administration led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a key ally within the U.S. efforts to carry the road towards China’s maritime assertiveness within the South China Sea, after the tumultuous Duterte presidency. In Manila, the Philippines, on August 6, the Secretary will meet with Marcos and his Overseas Secretary Enrique Manalo to “focus on bilateral efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Philippines alliance, together with via elevated cooperation on power, commerce, and funding, advancing our shared democratic values, and pandemic restoration.”
