Kerry Arrives in Asia With Focus on China

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Kerry Arrives in Asia With Focus on China

9:25 CAT | 25 Jan 2016

AP / U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to members of the media at King Salman Regional Air Base in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 23, 2016.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Laos at the start of a tour of Asia that will also take him to Cambodia and China.

Kerry arrived Sunday in the capital, Vientiane for a two day visit. Communist Laos is the current head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

The group’s members have concerns about China’s growing assertiveness over competing claims in the South China Sea where China is constructing man-made islands.

U.S. President Barack Obama will host ASEAN members in California next month.

Kerry is expected in his trip to Laos to stress the importance of the bloc presenting a united front in response to China’s claims.

The U.S. and governments with rival claims in the South China Sea say China’s action threaten regional stability.

Kerry heads to Cambodia Monday night where he with meet with Hun Sen, Asia’s longest serving prime minister.

US-Saudi friendship: ‘Nothing has changed’

Kerry arrived in Asia from Saudi Arabia, where he reiterated that the two nations have as strong a friendship as ever.

Kerry said “nothing has changed” as a result of the agreement the U.S. and five other world powers made with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for lifting billions of dollars in sanctions.

Source: VOA News