Top officials from the new U.S. administration are in Asia meeting with Japanese and South Korean officials to discuss the region’s two major security concerns, China and North Korea.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold four days of talks with the Japanese and South Koreans. This will coincide with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s Thursday meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, with Chinese officials.
While American officials seek to reassure its Asian allies that a steady hand is operating U.S. foreign affairs, they also want to remind allies that they will continue to defend them from aggression.
At the same time, in spite of numerous attempts to contact North Korea, there has been no response from the communist dictatorship.
It is no secret that Blinken and Austin will discuss an increasingly aggressive China, as well as North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
A much-touted priority in the new Biden administration has been to return Asia-Pacific concerns to the top of the U.S. foreign policy agenda.
Last week, Biden, participating in an online summit, said “A free and open Indo-Pacific is essential. The United States is committed to working with you, our partners, and all of our allies in the region, to achieve stability.”
Meanwhile, Sung Kim, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, has said, “Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy, and we are working to strengthen America’s relationships with our allies, as well as the relationships among them,”
Yet, to date, the Biden administration has not reversed any Trump policies regarding China.
Indeed, Biden has announced he would maintain existing sanctions on China due to human rights abuses in western Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The Americans will also continue to reject outright most of China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Long-time areas of contention between China and the United States include the continuing crackdown in Hong Kong, along with China’s threatening rhetoric towards Taiwan.
Meanwhile, at the conclusion of this meeting with the Japanese and South Koreans, Blinken and Sullivan will fly back to Washington via Anchorage, where they will meet senior Chinese officials.
Additionally, Austin will fly from Seoul to New Delhi for meetings with Indian leaders.
