Vientiane: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Saturday criticized China's “escalating and illegal actions” in the South China Sea, hours before he was due to hold talks with Beijing's top diplomat at a regional meeting in Laos. Blinken is in the capital Vientiane for a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), part of an Asian tour aimed at strengthening regional ties in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.
