Blinken's shuttle diplomacy in Southeast Asia beaten by coronavirus – Global Times | The Edge Markets

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – A + A (Dec 17): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken awkwardly cut short his Southeast Asia tour on Wednesday after a journalist traveling in his delegation tested positive for the coronavirus. Under the grave situation that more than 50 million COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the US, over 800,000 deaths and another potential surge in infections due to colder weather and the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Blinken was shuttling among several Southeast Asian countries with the purpose to counter China, Global Times said. Besides spreading a political virus, he and his…