Mike Pompeo to cut short Asia visit amid Trump hospitalisation

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said that he will cut short his trip to Asia this week after President Donald Trump was diagnosed and hospitalised due to the coronavirus, AFP reported. Initially, Pompeo had planned to visit Mongolia, South Korea and Japan between October 4 and October 8.

“Secretary Pompeo expects to be travelling to Asia again in October and will work to reschedule visits on that trip, that is now just a few weeks off,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said without mentioning Trump’s illness. 

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The US top diplomat will be in Tokyo from Sunday to Tuesday where he will meet with foreign ministers of Australia, India and Japan. The US secretary of State will skip Mongolia and South Korea legs of the trip. 

Pompeo touched on the topic on Friday after reporters asked if Trump’s health will change his schedule.

“We’re still planning on making the trips, but we’re going to take a look at them,” he responded. “We’ll see which one — see which or some parts of those trips make sense and which may not, and we’ll continue to on an hour-by-hour basis take a look at it,” he said.

Pompeo is likely to travel to India in his next Asia trip later this month for the India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue. Pompeo’s visit to East Asia would be his first to the region in over a year.