Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
WASHINGTON, 3rd August. The State Department has announced that U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken will visit South East Asia and South Africa.
Blinken is expected to highlight the “wrongful detention,” of a permanent U.S. resident, Paul Rusesabagina in Rwanda, the US officials said.
His visit to Asia and Africa came at the time of another high-profile state visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week.
Both visits come at a time when three world’s largest economies—the US, China, and Russia, all nuclear superpowers—are pushing to influence on the globe.
He will hold talks with the Government officials in DRC and Rwanda and uphold the U.S. policy toward African nations.
According to the press release issued by the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Blinken will first arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
He is expected to partake in three separate ministerial meetings from August 3-5, hosted by Cambodia as ASEAN chair this year.
State Dept. said in a statement that Blinken will “emphasize the United States’ commitment to ASEAN centrality and successful implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.”
The relations between Phnom Penh and Washington are under pressure due to China’s growing influence in Cambodia.
Blinken will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who are expected to attend the ASEAN meeting in Cambodia.
He is scheduled to travel to the Philippine on August 6, where he will meet with President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo to explore initiatives to fortify the U.S.-Philippine partnership through trade and energy.
Blinken will visit South Africa from Aug 7 to 11, where he is expected to introduce the U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa.
U.S. strategy affirms that African nations are geostrategic players and essential allies in addressing today’s pressing problems, such as promoting an open and stable international order, combating the effects of climate change, food insecurity, and global pandemics, and determining the future in terms of technology and the economy.
Blinken will serve as the head of the American delegation for the U.S.-South Africa Strategic Dialogue in Pretoria.
He will take part in the National Women’s Day ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Blinken will visit the DRC on Aug 9, 10 and meet with senior government officials and members of civil society to discuss free and fair 2023 elections, promoting human rights, and protecting fundamental freedoms in the socially unstable region, among other aspects.
His final leg of the trip is Rwanda where he will hold talks with senior Rwandan government officials and members of civil society on August 10 and 11.
Blinken will focus on what the Rwandan government can do to ease tensions and stop the current bloodshed in eastern DRC.
In Rwanda, Blinken is to highlight the “wrongful detention,” of a permanent U.S. resident, Paul Rusesabagina.
Rusesabagina, 67, was slammed with 25 years in prison over eight charges of terrorism against the erstwhile Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s regime that he has denied as a political farce.
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