US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet with Australia, Japan and India in bid to counter China during Olympics

Pacific nations including India, Japan and Australia are moving to counter China’s swelling economic, diplomatic and military presence and its emboldened ally.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed he will travel to Australia next week for a Quad group ministerial meeting to discuss maritime security and Covid, the State Department announced on Friday.

Starting on Wednesday, Mr Blinken will meet his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan to discuss multiple bilateral and global priorities, as tensions with Russia over Ukraine ratchet up in Europe.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne will host the talks in Melbourne with India’s Foreign Minister, ­Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japan’s Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hay­ashi also scheduled to attend.

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne will host the talks. Picture: AFP

China’s threat to stability in the Indo-­Pacific is expected to be a major focus of discussion during the two-day meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers.

China has previously denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique “targeting other countries”.

“With our Quad partners, we are delivering results for our populations and the region, including by advancing co-operation on Covid-19 vaccination delivery, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, maritime security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, countering disinformation, climate change, and critical and emerging technologies,” according to the State Department.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Australia next week. Picture: Susan Walsh.

Joe Biden held an in-person summit at the White House last September with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan as they highlighted the Quad’s role in safeguarding a stable, democratic Asia-Pacific.

Mr Blinken – who is the US President’s top diplomat – will also head to Fiji, in the first visit by a US secretary of state to the island nation since 1985, to discuss what the department called “ways to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific,” using the administration’s term for the Asia-Pacific region.

After Fiji, Mr Blinken will go to Honolulu, Hawaii on February 12 to host a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea to “deepen our co-operation in addressing threats from the DPRK’s (North Korea’s) nuclear and missile programs” and other current global “challenges.” China was not mentioned in the statement announcing Blinken’s trip, but the Quad grouping is focused on countering a rising Beijing.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach (L) greets China's President Xi Jinping (R) during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Picture: AFP

And while the phrase “free and open” was mentioned in the context of the Fiji visit, the wording has become code for expressing the big regional powers’ worry about swelling Chinese economic, diplomatic and military presence – including threats to vital international sea lanes.