Vientiane, Oct 11 (EFE).- United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday in Laos that his country will maintain as a priority the strategic region of the Indo-Pacific despite the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and regardless of the outcome of the upcoming US presidential elections.
“Even with everything else going on, our focus has remained intensely on this region (…) It’s my belief that the basic approach will continue, irrespective of who’s president, because it’s so manifestly in our interest” Blinken said.
“There’s strong support in Congress for our engagement in the region across parties and across both houses of Congress. And I don’t see that changing,” he said referring to the elections between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
The US secretary, who has made 20 trips to the region, participated Friday in the Laotian capital in the summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), instead of President Joe Biden.
The US representative held bilateral and multilateral meetings in Laos, such as the East Asia Forum where he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. EFE
grc-nc/sc