
WASHINGTON: Washington hopes to rally Southeast Asian nations to take tougher action against Myanmar's military junta and to push back on China's actions in the South China Sea as top United States diplomat Antony Blinken heads to the region for meetings next week, a State Department official said on Friday.
Secretary of State Blinken will travel to Indonesia to participate in a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc after he joins President Joe Biden in the United Kingdom and in Lithuania for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meetings from Sunday to Wednesday.