Antony Blinken to visit Asia next week for talks with Indo-Pacific allies
February 5, 2022, 3:55 am

Antony Blinken to visit Asia next week for talks with Indo-Pacific allies

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken/Facebook page

The Aharq Al-Awsat reported, the State Department said on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken goes to Asia next week for talks with Indo-Pacific allies, including a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation Quad.

Blinken is making the trip despite the mounting crisis over Ukraine and policy analysts say the aim is to show the Indo-Pacific region support and that pushing back against China's expanding influence remains Washington's top priority.

Blinken will leave Washington on Monday and be in Australia from Feb.9-12 for the meeting of the Quad - the United States, Japan, India and Australia.

Blinken will then meet Pacific Island leaders in Fiji before heading to Hawaii to confer with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korea issue.

The State Department said the purpose of the trip was "to engage Indo-Pacific allies and partners to advance peace, resilience, and prosperity across the region and demonstrate that these partnerships deliver."

The trip was announced even as China and Russia proclaimed a deep strategic partnership on Friday to balance what they portrayed as the malign global influence of the United States.

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The State Department said that in Fiji on Feb. 12 Blinken would discuss the climate crisis, COVID-19, disaster assistance, and "ways to further our shared commitment to democracy, regional solidarity, and prosperity" with Pacific Island leaders.

He will be the first US secretary of state to visit Fiji since 1985.

A senior US official has said President Joe Biden's administration plans to start a new Pacific Islands initiative with allies and partners that would bring together regional countries to "raise our ambition in the region, including on climate, maritime, and transportation issues."

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The official said it would at the same time finalize negotiations on Compacts of Free Association: agreements with three Pacific Island countries - the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau - that facilitate US military access. They are due to expire in 2023 in the case of the former two states and in 2024 in the case of Palau.

US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell has said that the Pacific could be the part of the world most likely to see "strategic surprise" - comments apparently referring to possible Chinese ambitions to establish Pacific-island bases.

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Washington had not done enough to assist the region and that there was a very short amount of time, Campbell said, to work with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and fellow Pacific power France, "to step up our game across the board."

Source: aawsat

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.