State Department Sends Top Official to Asia and the Middle East to Bolster Ties Amid Rising Competition With China

Victoria Nuland, U.S. under secretary for political affairs, arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday for a two-day visit to Nepal. Video via The Kathmandu Post.

Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s under secretary for political affairs and one of Washington’s most senior diplomats, arrived in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu on Sunday — the first stop on a three-nation, week-long tour that also includes Sri Lanka and Qatar.

Unlike Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s recent trip to Africa, which was framed around countering China’s growing influence on the continent, for Nuland’s tour, the State Department is taking a different approach and trying to position Nuland’s visit to these countries in strictly bilateral terms.

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by Eric Olander

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