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Asked how Blinken would comment on Biden’s decision to step down and whether it would lead to policy changes, Daniel Kritenbrink, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said his message would be that the United States is “all in on the Indo-Pacific.”
“We do try to assure our allies and partners that there are certain fundamental principles of American engagement that I think will not change and remain consistent,” he told reporters on Monday.
These include $2 trillion in annual trade between the United States and the Indo-Pacific, and nearly $1 trillion in regional investment, he noted.
“There is tremendous bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for our allies and partners and our approach to the region.”
Trump, who has been leading in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 5 election, waged a trade war against China while in office from 2017 to 2021. He has suggested he would impose tariffs of 60% or more on all Chinese goods if he is re-elected president.
Days after Biden said Taiwan should pay the United States to defend it from China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and needs to be unified with the mainland, the former president’s allies assured Japan and South Korea that Biden would continue to engage with them to counter China and North Korea.
Possible meeting with Wang Yi
Blinken’s first stop is expected to be Vietnam, for the funeral of Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party and Vietnam’s most powerful politician.
Nguyen Phu Trong led Vietnam for more than a decade, overseeing rapid economic growth and, more recently, improving relations with China and the United States through his “bamboo diplomacy.” Elderly care and illness He died last Friday (July 19) at the age of 80.
In Laos, Blinken will attend ASEAN-related meetings on Friday and Saturday, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also expected to attend.
Kritenbrink said North Korean officials might also attend.
Officials are expected there to discuss the conflict that has emerged since Myanmar’s military seized power three years ago. Kritenbrink said the United States wants Myanmar to send a non-political official representative, as it has at every meeting since the coup.
When asked whether Blinken would meet with Wang Yi, Kritenbrink said only that “we do expect he will have the opportunity to engage with Wang Yi.”
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