US Secretary of State Colin Powell will begin a five-country Asian tour next week in a bid to address mounting concern among regional leaders over plans for a national missile defence system.
James Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said yesterday Mr Powell would hold discussions with officials in Beijing and attend a regional security forum in Hanoi.
The 13-day trip, starting on Monday in Tokyo, will include stops in South Korea and Australia, where he will be joined by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The diplomatic flurry comes at a difficult time for Washington in the region. Sino-US relations were severely jolted earlier this year by the forced landing of a US spy plane on Hainan Island.
There has also been gathering disquiet in many Asian capitals about Washington's plans to press on with the missile defence system despite concern that its deployment could wreck key arms control agreements.
President Jiang Zemin said earlier this week on a trip to Russia that the US project 'will only start a new arms race and endanger world peace'. Mr Jiang used the trip to strengthen Beijing's ties with Moscow.
