Blinken departs for Indo-Pacific, will attend Quad Security dialogue in Australia

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed on Tuesday (local time) for his trip to the Indo-Pacific region for the Quad Foreign Ministers Ministerial Meeting in Australia and to attend other events and bilaterals in Fiji and Hawaii.

"Departing Washington for an important trip to the Indo-Pacific region. Looking forward to productive meetings with leaders and communities to promote our shared values and advance our goals in the," said Blinken in a tweet on Tuesday

"In Australia on February 9-12, Secretary Blinken will attend the fourth Quad Foreign Ministers Ministerial Meeting, hosted by Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne," the US State Department had said in a statement last week.

"With our Quad partners, we are delivering results for our populations and the region, including by advancing cooperation on COVID-19 vaccination delivery, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, maritime security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, countering disinformation, climate change, and critical and emerging technologies," the statement added.

Secretary Blinken will meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Foreign Minister Payne, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and other senior officials to discuss a range of bilateral and global priorities. The Secretary will also engage with students, scholars, and technology leaders in Melbourne, according to the statement.

"I am confident that, when our foreign ministers get together, they will reaffirm those principles and values that we hold dear," said Daniel J Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs last week.

"They will discuss challenges to that order and to those values. And I am confident that part of that discussion will relate to the challenges that China poses to those values and to that rules-based order in a number of sectors," Kritenbrink added.

( With inputs from ANI )