US Secretary of State Blinken Starts Pacific Tour in Australia

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and key allies are “voting with their feet” by flying to Australia to focus on challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, Australia’s foreign minister said Wednesday, as fears rise of a Russian invasion of Ukraine on the other side of the globe. Blinken landed in the Australian city of Melbourne on Wednesday ahead of a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne as well as their Indian and Japanese counterparts who form the so-called “Quad.” It will be the fourth such ministerial-level meeting of the bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China.

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