US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will travel to Vietnam at the end of the week, where he will seek to strengthen relations with the communist country, and Japan , in a tour that comes in the midst of tensions with China over Taiwan, according to what Washington announced Monday.

Blinken will stop in Hanoi before heading to a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven major industrialized nations in Karuizawa, Japan. The meeting extends from April 16 to 18, according to what the US State Department said in a statement.

The ministry added that the minister will discuss in the Vietnamese capital "our common vision for the Indo-Pacific region to be a region characterized by prosperity and peace."

Relations between the United States and Vietnam have strengthened in recent years, including in the field of defense, as the two countries reconciled despite the scars of war.

This is Blinken's first visit to Vietnam since taking office two years ago.

But Vice President Kamala Harris visited this country.

Blinken's visit to Asia comes amid tensions with China over Taiwan.

On Monday, the Chinese army said it had "successfully completed" a three-day military exercise aimed at simulating a "cordoning" around Taiwan, a self-governing island that China considers one of its own.

The Chinese maneuvers, which began on Saturday, came as a protest against a meeting Wednesday in California with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

In addition, Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are scheduled to meet with their Filipino counterparts in Washington on Tuesday.

The Philippines and the United States recently signed an agreement allowing US forces to use four additional military bases in the Philippines, which angered Beijing.

Blinken will travel to Hanoi from Ireland, where he will accompany President Joe Biden, who is visiting that country and the United Kingdom from April 11-14, and will stop in Northern Ireland on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement.