WASHINGTON, July 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday headed to Asia for a trip focused on reinforcing ties with Washington's strategic allies in a region where the United States is facing an increasingly assertive China.

The trip, Blinken's 18th to Asia since taking office more than three years ago, comes at a time of political upheaval at home, following Joe Biden's withdrawal from the White House race.

The veteran Democrat has made Washington's alliances in Asia a top foreign policy priority, with the aim of "advancing a free and open" Indo-Pacific -- a veiled way of criticizing China and its economic, strategic and territorial regional ambitions.

Blinken shortened his Asia itinerary by a day to be present for Thursday's White House meeting between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He will visit six countries during the roughly eight-day trip -- Vietnam, Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and Mongolia.

Blinken will begin in the Laotian capital Vientiane, where he will attend a foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Saturday.

He could meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of those talks.

Blinken will then head to Hanoi, also on Saturday, to offer US condolences to Vietnamese officials following the death of communist leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

"I've never seen a stronger demand signal for American engagement across the region," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said Monday, briefing reporters about Blinken's trip.

In Japan, Blinken will take part in a meeting of the "Quad" foreign ministers with his Japanese, Australian and Indian counterparts.

In Tokyo and Manila, he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold talks with their counterparts, with territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea likely to be high on the agenda in the Philippines.

After a stop in Singapore focused on bilateral ties, Blinken will wrap up his trip in Mongolia, aiming to strengthen "people-to-people" ties through professional and educational exchanges, according to Kritenbrink.

Also on the agenda in Ulaanbaatar is the establishment of direct flights between the two countries.