FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses the media following the closed-door morning talks between the United States and China upon conclusion of their two-day meetings in Anchorage, Alaska March 19, 2021.
In a virtual conference with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will emphasize the bloc’s vital regional role, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.
The meeting with the 10-member group will be the first since Biden took office in January, and it comes amid concerns among diplomats and others that Washington has not been paying enough attention to a region critical to its regional strategy to fight an increasingly powerful China.
