The US remains focused long-term on the Indo-Pacific region, despite concerns over Russian aggression toward Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.
Blinken is in Melbourne, Australia, for a meeting today with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan.
The four nations form the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China’s regional influence.
Photo: AFP
“There are a few other things going on in the world right now, some of you may have noticed,” Blinken said in his first public address since arriving in Australia on Wednesday.
“We have a bit of a challenge with Ukraine and Russian aggression,” he said. “We’re working 24/7 on that, but we know, the [US] president [Joe Biden] knows better than anyone else, that so much of this century is going to be shaped by what happens here in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The Indo-Pacific is the fastest-growing region in the world, accounting for two-thirds of global economic growth over the past five years and home to half of the world’s population, Blinken said.
What matters in the region matters around the world, and challenges such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be tackled by any nation alone, he said.
“More than ever before, we need partnerships, we need alliances, we need coalitions of countries willing to put their efforts, their resources, their minds into tackling these problems,” Blinken said.
“What really drives us is a shared vision” of a “free and open society,” he added.
Blinken’s trip is designed to reinforce Washington’s interests in Asia and its intent to push back against increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
He is also to visit Fiji, and discuss concerns about North Korea with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Hawaii.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, who is to chair today’s meeting, said that the agenda would include COVID-19 vaccine distribution, cyber and critical technologies, countering disinformation, terrorism, maritime security and climate change.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS