Blinken to Fete Biden, Reassure Allies 07/26 06:05

   U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the case for the Biden 
administration's expanded commitment to Asia and the Indo-Pacific region more 
broadly as he visits Laos, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and 
Mongolia this week and next. 

   VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the 
case for the Biden administration's expanded commitment to Asia and the 
Indo-Pacific region more broadly as he visits Laos, Vietnam, Japan, the 
Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia this week and next. The trip comes as the 
2024 U.S. presidential election campaign heats up after a series of bombshell 
developments upended the race.

   Blinken, who has already modified his travel schedule twice since the trip 
was announced just hours after President Joe Biden made his decision not to 
seek re-election, arrives in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday for the annual ASEAN 
Regional Forum. The security conference gathers the foreign ministers of 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional powers like China, 
Australia, Japan, Russia, South Korea and India.

   All participants represent either critical U.S. allies and partners or 
Washington's two largest rivals -- Moscow and Beijing, which have grown closer 
over the past two years, prompting deep concerns about their combined global 
influence. Just this week, U.S. and Canadian jets intercepted Chinese and 
Russian bombers flying jointly near Alaska. The U.S. has repeatedly accused 
China of helping to rebuild Russia's military industrial base that allows it to 
wage its war in Ukraine.

   Blinken is expected to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in 
Vientiane but has no plans to see Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who 
is also attending the ASEAN conference, according to the State Department.

   Despite, or perhaps due to, its major policy differences with the U.S. over 
Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, the South China Sea, trade and human rights, China is 
emerging as a potential challenger to the U.S. in international diplomatic 
dominance.

   Beijing has recently mediated a fragile rapprochement between r ival 
Palestinian factions, negotiated a tentative deal with the Philippines to end 
escalating confrontations over their competing maritime claims in the South 
China Sea, agreed to work with India on withdrawing tens of thousands of troops 
along their disputed Himalayan border, and hosted Ukraine's foreign minister.

   Despite assertions from U.S. officials that Biden's decision to withdraw 
will have no impact on the administration's foreign policies for his last six 
months in office, questions abound about his priorities before he leaves the 
White House and the path his successor may take.

   Although there was no discussion of Blinken cancelling his travel plans 
after Biden's announcement, his time and meetings in Laos have been cut nearly 
in half since the original trip announcement, and two brief stops in Vietnam 
and Mongolia have been added.

   While the presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, 
might be expected to hew closely to Biden's approach, Republican challenger 
Donald Trump could bring major change, particularly regarding security 
commitments to America's Asian allies, notably Japan, South Korea and the 
Philippines.

   "Foreign leaders and adversaries now are not only facing new uncertainty 
about the outcome of the election that seemed Trump's for the taking, but 
uncertainty as well about how the policies of a victorious Democratic candidate 
would differ from Biden," said Danny Russel, a former assistant secretary of 
state for East Asia and the Pacific in the Obama administration who is 
currently vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.

   "For China in particular, this argues for a cautious wait-and-see posture," 
he said.

   Blinken will use the trip to reassure partners that "America is all in on 
the Indo-Pacific," said Dan Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia. "The 
United States has been an Indo-Pacific power for more than a century and will 
remain so going forward."

   "We're going to continue to do everything possible to demonstrate that 
commitment in coming months," Kritenbrink told reporters earlier this week. He 
discounted concerns about the presidential campaign but added: "We do try to 
reassure allies and partners that there are certain fundamentals about 
America's engagement that are not going to change, that have been consistent."

   Among those constants for the past six decades have been large U.S. troop 
deployments in Japan and South Korea and a mutual defense treaty with the 
Philippines. During his first term in office, Trump cast doubt on the 
usefulness of U.S. alliances around the world and suggested that the American 
military presence in Japan and South Korea be reduced or eliminated.

   As part of his Asia tour, Blinken will be joined by Defense Secretary Lloyd 
Austin in Tokyo and Manila, where they will meet with their Japanese and 
Filipino counterparts to shore up their defense cooperation "in the face of 
really growing and unprecedented threats in the region," according to 
Kritenbrink.

   And, in the view of analysts like Russel, Biden may direct his team to step 
up engagement. "Leaders who may have effectively counted him out are now 
dealing with an undistracted Joe Biden, focused on augmenting his substantial 
legacy and unencumbered by the heavy burden of campaigning," Russel said.