China likely to be hot topic when top US officials visit Japan, South Korea, observers say

On their first overseas trips as representatives of US President Joe Biden’s administration, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin arrived in Tokyo on Monday evening for a meeting with their Japanese counterparts the next day, followed by a foreign and defence ministerial in Seoul on Wednesday.

US officials said the talks were likely to cover deterrence against regional threats, trilateral cooperation on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, accountability for countries like China “when they fail to adhere to their international commitments and obligations” and Beijing’s repression of ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang.

Analysts said the talks with America’s allies were intended to give Blinken a position of strength going into his meeting with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Anchorage, Alaska on Thursday. It will also seek to repair relations with key US allies in the wake of former US president Donald Trump’s chaotic foreign policy and at a time when Washington is seeking to counteract Beijing’s assertiveness in the region.

The meetings in Tokyo are expected to focus on security issues like the disputed Diaoyu Islands – which are administered by Japan, which calls them the Senkakus, but also claimed by Beijing – and wider Indo-Pacific issues.