Security issues including the North Korea crisis will figure high on the agenda as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday begins a five-day trip to the Indo-Pacific aimed at reaffirming Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region.
State Department officials have said that the top issue on Pompeo’s agenda during his tour of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia from August 1-5 will be the ongoing efforts to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Pompeo has said he will also unveil a series of new US security assistance measures later this week.
“We seek partnership, not domination” in the region, Pompeo said on Monday during a speech at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Washington, DC.
Chief among the security issues that Pompeo will seek to address is the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and the ongoing international effort to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Both Pompeo and North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho are expected to attend the annual gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore on Saturday, August 4, a State Department official said.
The official did not rule out the possibility of a direct bilateral meeting between the two top diplomats, saying the final schedule of Pompeo’s bilateral meetings has not yet been decided.
Regardless of whether Pompeo and Ri meet face to face, the issue of denuclearizing North Korea will certainly be among the topics of discussion at the annual gathering, the official added.
North Korea “will be in the room and there will certainly be discussions about denuclearization,” the official said.
The secretary will begin his trip in Malaysia, where he will meet with Malaysian officials on August 2-3 in Kuala Lumpur to discuss strengthening bilateral security and economic interests. On August 3, Pompeo will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a Senior State Department official revealed on Tuesday. He then heads to Singapore for the ASEAN summit on August 4.
“A key destination for the trip is Singapore,” the State Department official said. “Singapore is the 2018 chair of ASEAN, and in that capacity plays a convening role for four separate multilateral gatherings, annual gatherings, that Secretary Pompeo will attend with his foreign minister counterparts from across the Indo-Pacific.”
The official explained that Pompeo chairs the Lower Mekong Initiative Ministerial Meeting, at which he will emphasize US partnerships on trans-boundary cooperation with the five partner nations, including Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.
“Next, in a ministerial meeting with the 10 member-states of ASEAN, Secretary Pompeo will co-chair a meeting and underscore the importance of our strategic partnership with ASEAN, highlight our commitment to this entity and ASEAN centrality, and address various regional security and partnership economics,” the official added.
Moreover, Pompeo will meet his 17 counterparts in the East Asia Summit to discuss the region’s most pressing issues, including North Korea’s denuclearization, terrorism, and cyber security.
“Finally, at the ASEAN Regional Forum, Secretary Pompeo will work with his 26 counterparts from across the region to establish practical cooperation to address nontraditional security threats, including cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” the official said.
While in Singapore, the secretary is scheduled to meet with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Pompeo will conclude his trip in the Indonesian city of Jakarta on August 4-5, where he will meet with President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.