Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage will travel to Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, China, and Japan for meetings with senior officials in each country.
The Deputy Secretary will visit Colombo on August 22, following the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s visit to Washington in July. The Deputy Secretary will then travel to New Delhi August 23 and Islamabad August 24, where he will build upon his June visits to those cities and review the steps India and Pakistan have taken since that time to further de-escalate tensions. He will also follow up on the Secretary's visit to South Asia last month, discussing initiatives to expand U.S. bilateral relations with both countries.
The Deputy Secretary will be in Beijing August 25-27. During this visit, he will consult with senior Chinese officials on a variety of bilateral and regional issues, including preparations for the October visit to the United States of PRC President Jiang Zemin.
The Deputy Secretary will visit Tokyo Aug. 27-28 and will meet with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Administrative Vice-Minister Yukio Takeuchi to conduct Strategic Dialogue talks that were agreed upon by President Bush and Prime Minister Koizumi during the June 2001 summit in Washington. The Deputy Secretary will also meet with a number of other senior Japanese officials during his stay in Tokyo.