US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin on Monday for a four-day visit to Japan and South Korea to strengthen America’s influence in Asia. will depart. US officials also tried to contact North Korea but received no response.
A senior US administration official said on Saturday that US officials have tried to reach North Korea by various means over the past month, but have not received any reply yet. In such a situation, negotiations with its neighbours, Japan, South Korea and China have become even more important.
The purpose of the journey is to advance the partnership
Blinken and Austin will leave for the trip to pursue partnerships with their larger regional partners, Japan and South Korea. Subsequently, Blinken and Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet senior Chinese officials in Anchorage, Alaska.
Blinken and Austin will also meet journalists, civil society members, and others via digital. US President Joe Biden met with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia on Friday via digital and told the members of the ‘Quad’ that it is necessary for the Indo-Pacific region to be free and independent.
What did global leaders say in the quad conference?
At the Quad’s first online summit, Biden said that the ‘Quad’ was going to be an important platform for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Addressing the conference, Prime Minister Modi said that today’s conference shows that the ‘quad’ has been developed and it will now remain an important pillar of stability in the region.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison began his address with Namaste. He said that a partnership of strategic trust is needed. They talked about building a different future together. At the same time, Japanese Prime Minister Suga recalled the 2004 tsunami disaster when quad member countries came together. The ‘Quad’ is actually a group of four countries – India, Japan, Australia and the United States – and since its inception in 2007, representatives of these four-member countries have been meeting from time to time.