US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will cut short his trip to East Asia after Donald Trump is admitted to hospital with Covid-19.
Pompeo will leave for Japan on Sunday, but will not go to Mongolia and South Korea as planned, the State Department said.
Pompeo was scheduled to visit the three countries from October 4-8 October. He is due to leave for Tokyo on Sunday but will return to Washington on October 6 after consultations with his Japanese counterparts and extensive meetings with the foreign ministers of India and Australia.
Trump announced his illness early Friday and he was moved from the White House to Verter Reed Medical Center near Washington. He said in a video from the hospital on Saturday that he felt “very good” but that the next few days would be a “real test”.
In a video address to the Florida Family Policy Council, Pompeo said he was in good health but had “carefully” canceled his personal appearance at the event. He still planned to go to Asia.
“You should know that I am good, I am doing good. I test twice a day. I am as healthy as I am and I intend to – I have a trip that I am thinking of going to Asia tomorrow, ”he said.
The State Department said Pompeo expects to tour Asia again in October and will work to reschedule its original tour.
Pompeo’s visit to East Asia, his first in the region in a year, comes at a time when U.S. relations with Beijing have been at their worst in decades. Apart from Trump, the coronavirus has infected first lady Melania and many Republican senators, as well as millions of other Americans.
