Top diplomat Antony Blinken to visit Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as US seeks to boost engagement

Discussions will include the crisis in Myanmar, and ‘strengthening regional security infrastructure in response to PRC bullying in the South China Sea’

Washington’s latest diplomatic flurry in Southeast Asia comes as Beijing is also seeking closer ties in the region

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to Southeast Asia next week after attending the Group of Seven meeting in Liverpool. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00am, 10 Dec 2021

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand next week on his first trip to Southeast Asia, as Washington seeks to ramp up engagement with the region.

The four-day trip will come after Blinken attends a Group of Seven meeting of foreign ministers in the British city of Liverpool over the weekend. Top diplomats from Australia, India, South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will join the gathering as guests, the US State Department said on Wednesday.

Blinken’s Southeast Asia tour follows a trip to Cambodia and Indonesia by State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet that began on Wednesday.

In Jakarta, Blinken will give a speech on “the significance of the Indo-Pacific region” and in Kuala Lumpur he will address the need for the region to remain “free and open”, according to the State Department.

Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the trip would be “the latest example of the Biden-Harris administration’s sustained engagement”.

He said Blinken’s meetings on security would focus on “strengthening the regional security infrastructure in response to PRC bullying in the South China Sea” and he would also discuss “unilateral PRC actions in the Mekong River”.