U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman will today kick off an 11-day diplomatic tour that will include stops in three Southeast Asian nations, amid a flurry of Chinese diplomatic engagements with the region.
According to a State Department press release, the trip, the first to Southeast Asia by a senior U.S. official since the Biden administration took office in January, will see Sherman make stops in Brussels and Ankara this week, before traveling to Jakarta, Phnom Penh, and Bangkok.
While in Southeast Asia, Sherman “will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to ASEAN centrality and address a range of bilateral and regional issues, including efforts to urge the Burmese military to cease violence, release all those unjustly detained, and restore Burma to the path of democracy.”
