Reuters
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday in his first visit to Asia since taking office, and will try to reassure them the region is a priority for Washington, even as President Donald Trump targets it in his global tariff offensive.
Washington's top diplomat will meet foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Kuala Lumpur, and also hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who is in the Malaysian capital, according to the US State Department.
Rubio's trip is part of an effort to renew US focus on the Indo-Pacific and look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the Trump administration's attention, with Rubio balancing dual responsibilities as secretary of state and national security adviser.
However, Trump's global tariff strategy is likely to cast a shadow over the trip, after the president announced steep tariffs to take effect on August 1 on six ASEAN members, including Malaysia, as well as on close Northeast Asian allies Japan and South Korea.
Rubio will nevertheless seek to firm up US relationships with partners and allies, who have been unnerved by the tariffs, and is likely to press the case that the United States remains a better partner than China, Washington's main strategic rival, experts said.
"This is significant, and it's an effort to try to counter that Chinese diplomatic and economic offensive," said Victor Cha, president of the geopolitics and foreign policy department at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Rubio will also meet with Lavrov later on Thursday, according to the US State Department schedule. It would be the second in-person meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, and comes at a time when Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to join talks from Thursday, but it was unclear if Rubio would meet with him.
Washington's top diplomat will meet foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Kuala Lumpur, and also hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who is in the Malaysian capital, according to the US State Department.
Rubio's trip is part of an effort to renew US focus on the Indo-Pacific and look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the Trump administration's attention, with Rubio balancing dual responsibilities as secretary of state and national security adviser.
However, Trump's global tariff strategy is likely to cast a shadow over the trip, after the president announced steep tariffs to take effect on August 1 on six ASEAN members, including Malaysia, as well as on close Northeast Asian allies Japan and South Korea.
Rubio will nevertheless seek to firm up US relationships with partners and allies, who have been unnerved by the tariffs, and is likely to press the case that the United States remains a better partner than China, Washington's main strategic rival, experts said.
"This is significant, and it's an effort to try to counter that Chinese diplomatic and economic offensive," said Victor Cha, president of the geopolitics and foreign policy department at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Rubio will also meet with Lavrov later on Thursday, according to the US State Department schedule. It would be the second in-person meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, and comes at a time when Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to join talks from Thursday, but it was unclear if Rubio would meet with him.
