FM Wang To Meet w/US' Blinken On ASEAN Sidelines

(MNI) London - The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Laos. Blinken is on a multi-nation tour of Southeast Asia, visiting Vietnam, Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Mongolia until 3 August. In Laos, Biden will "participate in the annual ASEAN-U.S. Post Ministerial Conference, 14th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and the 31st ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meeting."

• The ministers last met in Beijing in late-April when Wang"acknowledged the China-US relationship was beginning to stabilise, but said it was still being tested by "negative factors"." Following US President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Reuters reportsBiden will reiterate to Asian FM's that the administration is "all-in on the Indo-Pacific."
• Separately, in talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yōko Kamikawa [the first since Nov 2023], Wang says that 'China-Japan relations are at a critical stage of retreat if they do not advance...[I] hope the Japanese side will establish an objective and correct understanding of China, and pursue a positive and rational China policy."
• Wang: "The two [countries] should work in the same direction, safeguard the political foundation of bilateral relations, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, and properly manage differences."
• Kyodo News reports that Kamikawa told Wang Tokyo would continue talks "in a multi-layered and persistent manner" Kyodo: "Kamikawa and Wang met as the Japanese foreign minister makes arrangements to visit China, but it remains uncertain whether the two nations can pave the way to build constructive and stable bilateral ties, given their ongoing disputes."