Blinken to discuss Myanmar, South China Sea and Ukraine at Asia summits Laos

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Secretary of State Antony Blinken will represent the United States at summits with Asian leaders in Laos this week and expects to discuss human rights in Myanmar, China's "irresponsible" behavior in the South China Sea and Ukraine, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Tuesday.

Daniel Kritenbrink told reporters that President Joe Biden, whose vice president, Kamala Harris, is running against former President Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, remained fully committed to the ASEAN region, even though he is not attending the leader-level meetings.

A State Department statement said Blinken would leave on Tuesday for the Laotian capital of Vientiane and stay there until Friday, attending the East Asia Summit and a U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

Blinken was originally scheduled to accompany Biden on a subsequent visit to Berlin and the Angolan capital Luanda, but the White House announced that the president was postponing those trips to handle preparations for Hurricane Milton and relief efforts after Hurricane Helene. Blinken is now expected to return home after the Vientiane trip, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Kritenbrink said he had no details to share about Blinken's plans for bilateral meetings in Vientiane, including any with China, but a number of China-related issues would come up, including its "escalatory and irresponsible steps designed to coerce and pressure many of the South China Sea claimants."

On China's support for Russia over Ukraine, he added: "Our concerns regarding China's strong support for the Russian defense industrial base, they remain, they are ongoing, and I would say they are growing."

Kritenbrink said Washington remained "deeply concerned" about plans by Myanmar's military government to hold elections, and that these should not be held until there was genuine peace and reconciliation in the country.

He said there has been "virtually zero progress" in efforts to press the junta to reduce violence, release political prisoners and engage with the democratic opposition.

"The secretary will continue to emphasize to partners in the region that we must keep up pressure on the regime," he said.

"We ... fear that premature elections would be neither representative nor inclusive, and perhaps ... would likely only generate more violence and prolong the ongoing crisis," he said.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Michael Martina and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Mark Porter and Bill Berkrot)