By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink will soon travel to Vietnam, the State Department said Thursday.
Kritenbrink will meet senior officials in Hanoi from June 21 - 22 "to underscore the strong US commitment to implementing the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and to working with Vietnam in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region," it said in a statement.
He will reaffirm the US' support for a "strong, independent, resilient, and prosperous" Vietnam, it said, adding that Kritenbrink will discuss shared objectives for next month’s ASEAN-related ministerial meetings in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.
The visit is after Russian President Vladimir Putin's two-day visit to Hanoi, where those two countries pledged to strengthen bilateral relations.
The US Embassy in Hanoi said Monday that "no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities," according to local media reports.