United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Laos

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state visited Southeast Asian nation Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic) on 10 July 2012. The historic visit marked the first to the Laos, a communist nation, by any US secretary of state over the past 57 years. John Foster Dulles’ visit in 1955 marked the last visit by any top US diplomat to Laos.

During her visit she held separate dialogues with Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith where the leaders discussed a range of bilateral and global issues.

The two countries had not been on best of terms after the US dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War. The hazardous effects of unexploded bombs are still being felt in the country.

Hillary Clinton’s visit to Laos is the part of US’ strategy to strengthen its presence in the Southeast Asian region. US, which over the past one decade has shown a great willingness to get its position strengthened in the entire Asian continent, is reworking over its future plans in the region against the backdrop of growing Chinese hegemony. The visit indicates the US’ changing foreign policy stance and priorities in the region. Earlier Clinton had visited Mongolia the other Central-east Asian nation on 10 July 2012.