Trump’s top diplomat may be on the cusp of a major Asian tour.
U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to make his first trip to the Asia-Pacific later this month, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency. Tillerson is expected to visit Japan, South Korea, and China, according to the report.
Neither of the four governments involved has officially confirmed the trip, but Kyodo, citing Japanese diplomatic sources, reported that Tillerson was expected to visit Japan on March 17 and 18.
Since his confirmation by the U. S. Senate, Tillerson has spoken with his counterparts from all three countries, both on the phone and in person at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bonn, Germany — his first overseas trip.
In Bonn, Tillerson held private meetings with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, and conferred trilaterally with both ministers as well.
Tillerson’s meetings with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts focused on issues of regional and global concern for the respective alliances, especially the three countries’ common North Korea challenge. Pyongyang had carried out its first missile test of 2017 as well as staged the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half brother in Malaysia days before the G20 meeting.
Tillerson also held a short meeting on the sidelines of the Bonn G20 meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
