VIENTIANE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday (Oct 11) there was deep concern in Asia about the prospect of conflict spreading in the Middle East, as the UN chief called for everything possible to be done to avoid “all-out war” in Lebanon.
The conflict in the Middle East was a central issue during Friday’s East Asia Summit in Laos, where Blinken said Washington was dedicated to using diplomacy to try to control the situation in the face of what he called an Iranian-led axis of resistance.
“The intense focus of the United States, which has been the case going back a year … (is) preventing these conflicts from spreading. And we’re working on that every day,” Blinken told a press conference.
“We’re working very hard through deterrence and through diplomacy to prevent that from happening. There’s also obviously deep concern that we share about the plight of children, women, and men in Gaza.”
The US has stressed to Israel the importance of meeting the humanitarian needs of people in Gaza, Blinken said, adding it was in Israel’s interest that people forced from their homes by hostilities in Lebanon are able to return.
The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also included meetings with leaders and top diplomats from India, China, Japan, the United States, Russia, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, as well as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Friday’s discussions included the war in Ukraine, Myanmar’s civil war, climate change, tensions in the Taiwan Strait and concern about confrontations in the South China Sea, a key conduit for at least US$3 trillion in annual ship-borne trade.
