Politics
22:48, 02-Aug-2018
Pompeo takes ‘US vision of Asia’ to Malaysia
Updated
21:59, 05-Aug-2018
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began a four-day visit to Asia to promote a US vision of Asia with a stop in Malaysia, en route to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional meetings in Singapore.
'Rekindle an old relationship'
Pompeo arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday evening.
In Malaysia, he will meet Malaysia’s 93-year-old prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad on Friday morning, to congratulate him on the election victory. Pompeo is the most senior US official to visit Mahathir since his election.
The official said the meeting would be an opportunity to talk about the Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy and a vision for an "open, transparent, rules-based" region that Pompeo outlined in a speech in Washington on Monday.
Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that Pompeo's Kuala Lumpur stop would be largely a "meet and greet" to rekindle an old relationship.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, Malaysia, August 2, 2018. /Reuters Photo
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, Malaysia, August 2, 2018. /Reuters Photo
Nuclear concerns to be discussed
Pompeo will then travel to Singapore to attend an annual ASEAN forum on Saturday for talks on political and security issues in the Asia-Pacific.
According to reports, Ri Yong Ho, his counterpart from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), will also be at the gathering in the city-state, where US President Donald Trump and DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un held their historic summit on June 12.
No meeting has been announced between Pompeo and Ri Yong Ho, but US officials have not ruled out the possibility of a discussion of commitments by Trump and Kim to the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Trade tensions between the US and China will also be on the agenda during Pompeo's Asia visit.
His last stop will be in Jakarta, where he will seek to reinforce relations with a key US ally, AFP said.
(Cover: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, Malaysia, August 2, 2018. /Reuters Photo)
(With inputs from agencies)