With large parts of the world in turmoil and deep uncertainty over the future direction of America’s global role, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought this week to project an aura of calm normalcy as he traveled through Asia on his first overseas mission since President Joe Biden jolted the 2024 presidential race with his withdrawal.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken , second left and Mongolia’s Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg, third right, hold a meeting in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken , left and Mongolia’s Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg, right, hold a meeting in Ulaanbaatar on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken , left, meets with Mongolia’s Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.
“Really? I hadn’t heard any of it,” he said to laughter from the audience of students and academics from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy before taking a stab at a serious answer. The main one, he said, is that most Americans want to be engaged with the rest of the world, taking a veiled jab at Trump’s “America First” mantra that caused major angst among U.S. allies, particularly in Europe, Japan and South Korea, in his first term.
Yet unease was palpable at several of Blinken’s stops, even if the officials voicing it avoided direct mentions of the U.S. election. “I think it’s fair to say that we are confronted by in some ways unprecedented challenges, but we also have an alliance that is more than ready to tackle them,” he said.
Antony Blinken Asia Elections Joe Biden General News United States Politics World News Lee Kuan Yew I Kamala Harris Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Donald Trump Washington News Lloyd Austin Russia Ukraine War Washington News
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