The U.S. State Department has announced that its top official for East Asian and Pacific Affairs will travel to four Southeast Asian countries this week.
The statement issued Monday says Kurt Campbell will depart Tuesday for a visit to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan during a week-long trip.
Campbell is scheduled to meet Thursday with senior officials of Singapore and discuss bilateral and regional issues with government members and political analysts. He then will travel to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, where he will meet with Indonesian and other regional officials to prepare for the ASEAN Regional Forum and East Asia Summit.
Campbell’s next stop is Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where he is to hold meetings Saturday with Malaysian officials, academics and business leaders.
The U.S. official arrives in Tokyo Sunday to meet with Japanese officials for talks on bilateral and global issues.
The statement says Campbell’s visit to Southeast Asia underscores the U.S. pursuit of an enhanced diplomatic presence in the region.
Japanese news media report that in Tokyo, Campbell is expected to discuss a controversial plan to relocate a U.S. Marine air base on Okinawa to a different part of the island. Three influential U.S. senators have instead proposed integrating the Futenma air base into the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena base, also on Okinawa.
