Blinken delays Asia tour for Netanyahu visit

WASHINGTON, United States — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is delaying his Asia trip this week to take part in a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, the State Department said Wednesday.

Due to the delay, the top US diplomat will no longer attend the funeral on Friday of Vietnam's late leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

Blinken will first travel to Laos to take part in a ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), before heading to Hanoi to offer official condolences, according to a State Department statement.

His participation in the ministerial meeting will effectively be cut short due to the delay.

Blinken had said he would meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering, but no date had been announced.

The shifted schedule comes as Blinken is set to take part in a White House meeting on Thursday between President Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The Israeli leader is in Washington for meetings and to address the US Congress, at a time of tension between his government and President Joe Biden's administration, which is pushing for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.