Blinken embarks on Asia-Pacific tour

BRISBANE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday will embark on his tour to the Asia-Pacific region for the Quad meeting in an attempt to push back against China’s expanding influence.

However, experts on Sunday said huge uncertainties linger for reaching any consensus with real meaning among Asian countries, and that forming the Quad into a more integrated or stronger alliance is impossible.

Experts believe Blinken’s tour amid a mounting crisis over Ukraine implies the US still places going against China as its top priority. However, the US’ scheme to promote economy-related affairs within the security mechanism to target China may not allure Quad members due to doubts toward the US. Other than pointing fingers at China’s internal affairs, any consensus with real meaning is not expected to be reached, experts predicted.

During his tour next week, Blinken is scheduled to have talks with Indo-Pacific allies, including a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation Quad, according to the US State Department.

The Quad meeting, with members the US, Japan, India and Australia, will be held in Australia. Blinken is scheduled to depart Washington on Monday, and stay in Australia from February 9 to 12 for the Quad meeting. Later, he will visit Fiji before heading to Hawaii to meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korea issue.

Blinken still decided to visit Asia in spite of the severe situation in Ukraine implies that the focal point of US strategy targeting China remains unchanged, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

One of the top items for the Quad meeting is whether the US will promote agendas like the economy within the Quad mechanism as the Biden administration said last year the US deeply believes every agenda could be taken to launch competition with China, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

However, there are many uncertainties over whether the assumption from the US can be realized as it has wished, and whether the US can consolidate the quadripartite security dialogue mechanism and run it effectively, Li said.

No matter what the Biden administration does, odds are great that the policy would be changed significantly if Biden’s Democrats lose the midterm elections in November and if the 2024 presidential election brings in a new Republican administration that advocates economic protectionism, Li explained. Such uncertainty is clear to all other Quad members, thus the US’ plan of adopting economy-related affairs within the security mechanism to target China may not reach consensus, Li noted.