VIENTIANE, Laos (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday there was deep concern in Asia about the plight of people in Gaza and conflict in the Middle East and stressed Washington was doing everything in its power to prevent those from spreading.
Speaking in Laos after the East Asia Summit, Blinken said concerns about the Middle East came up in conversations with other leaders, during which he reiterated Washington was dedicated to diplomacy to control the situation in the face of what he called an Iranian-led axis of resistance.
“The intense focus of the United States, which has been the case going back a year, and doing just that, (is) preventing these conflicts from spreading. And we’re working on that every day,” Blinken told a press conference.
“We’re working very hard through deterrence and through diplomacy to prevent that from happening. There’s also obviously deep concern that we share about the plight of children, women, and men in Gaza, who for now a year have been caught in a terrible crossfire of Hamas’ instigation.”
Blinken also said the United States was directly engaged with Israel to stress how imperative it was that the humanitarian needs of people in Gaza are met.
Israel had the right to defend itself from attacks from Hezbollah, he added, and like the United States, it had a clear and legitimate interest in creating an environment where tens of thousands of displaced people in southern Lebanon can return to their homes.
“It’s also vitally important that in doing that, they focus on making sure that civilians are protected and, again, are not being caught in a terrible crossfire,” he said.
Blinken also gave his reassurances of the U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, adding it was critical to U.S. interests.
“Even with everything else going on, our focus has remained intensely on this region,” he said.
“It’s my belief that basic approach will continue, irrespective of who’s president, because it’s so manifestly in our interest.”
“There’s strong support in Congress for our engagement in the region across parties and across both houses of Congress. And I don’t see that changing,” he said.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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