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Bucking tradition, Clinton to head for Asia

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-04 15:27

WASHINGTON - Bucking tradition, Hillary Clinton is expected to bypass Europe  and travel to Japan, South Korea, China and possibly Indonesia in mid-February on her first trip as US secretary of state, diplomats said on Monday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waves as she takes the stage to be ceremonially sworn in at the State Department in Washington, February 2, 2009. [Agencies]

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The diplomats, who spoke on condition they not be identified because the US State Department has yet to announce the trip, cautioned that Clinton's schedule could change.

The stalled multilateral effort to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions is likely to be a major feature of Clinton's talks in the region, as is the global financial crisis.

Pyongyang's nuclear program is among the most vexing of a series of foreign policy challenges that US President Barack Obama inherited from former President George W. Bush.

The diplomats said Clinton might visit Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, during her trip. Such a visit will fit with Obama's efforts to restore US relations with the Muslim world.

Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, said in his inaugural address he sought a new way forward with the Muslim world "based on mutual interest and mutual respect."