Antony Blinken heads to Australia, Pacific as Ukraine crisis boils
- Blinken will spend three days in Melbourne for a meeting with foreign ministers of the Quad
- After departing Australia, Blinken will stop briefly in Fiji to meet with a number of Pacific island leaders – many of who are being wooed by China
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed for the Asia-Pacific on Tuesday aiming to shore up regional partnerships in the face of an expansive China, even as the crisis on Ukraine’s border simmers.
Blinken will spend three days in Melbourne for a meeting with foreign ministers of the Quad, the informal US-Japan-India-Australia grouping that Washington hopes will become a bulwark against Beijing’s push for regional dominance.
The visit will include meetings with senior Australian officials, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, as they seek to build on September’s Aukus trilateral defense pact with Britain. The shock challenge to China included a Washington-Canberra deal to buy eight nuclear-powered submarines.
His trip comes only hours after a Washington press conference with top EU officials sought to show a united front on the threat presented by the estimated 140,000 Russian troops now massed on Ukraine’s border.
After departing Australia on Saturday, Blinken will stop briefly in Fiji to meet a number of Pacific Island leaders – many of who are being wooed by China.
“The key message that the secretary will take with him on this trip is that our partnerships deliver,” said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink.
“The Quad is a key component of US foreign economic and security policy in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said. “It’s through this partnership that we’re strengthening the security environment in the region to push back against aggression and coercion.”
