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WASHINGTON: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will visit Southeast Asia later this month, the Pentagon announced, as part of a trip that will include stops in the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, according to the US Embassy in Hanoi.
“Secretary Austin’s visit will demonstrate the importance the Biden-Harris government attaches to Southeast Asia and ASEAN as an integral part of the architecture of the Indo-Pacific,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations block.
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The US Embassy in Hanoi announced on Tuesday (July 20) that Austin’s trip would begin on Friday.
“This trip will underscore the US’s continued commitment to the region and our interest in maintaining the rules-based international order in the region and promoting ASEAN centrality,” the message said in a Facebook post.
The United States, under President Joe Biden, is trying to reinforce the need for a US role in a region where China, as the dominant trading partner, has considerable influence but is testing ties because of its military activities in the South China Sea.
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