US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting Southeast Asia, hastily canceled his last visit to Thailand, due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
According to the announcement by the US State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting Southeast Asia, was planning to visit Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, to meet with Foreign Minister Don and others, but he suddenly canceled it.
The reason is explained as "to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus and prioritize the health and safety of the visiting team."
A Thai government official told NHK that "one of Blinken's companion reporters was infected with the new coronavirus."
The Blinken administration in the United States is trying to strengthen relations with Southeast Asian countries in order to compete with China, and Secretary Blinken will visit Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for the first time since the administration was inaugurated on the 13th to 16th of this month. I visited and planned to visit Thailand, the last country I visited, from the 15th.
Regarding the bilateral relations between the United States and Thailand, a distance has arisen after the Obama administration criticized the coup d'etat by the Thai military in 2014, and Thai experts said, "There is a long way to go to improve relations. It is analyzed.