FALCON POWERS – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “We are working intensively every day to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Blinken arrived in Laos on Saturday, where he will attend a regional meeting and hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, as part of a multi-country Asian tour aimed at bolstering regional relations in the face of Beijing, according to the Associated Press.
Blinken is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ meeting being held in Vientiane. Blinken prioritized strengthening the “free and open” Asia-Pacific region – an implicit criticism of China’s economic, strategic and regional ambitions.
