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As diplomacy intensified, Japan announced that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga would become the first foreign leader to meet with Biden in person. This shows that the Allies are very important to the new American leader.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will also visit Japan and South Korea together next week, and L. Austin has yet to go to India. This will be your first trip abroad.
Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with senior Chinese officials next week in Alaska. The Biden administration promises that meeting will directly expose America’s concerns.
Friday’s quadripartite summit, though virtual, marks the first meeting of leaders from the United States, Japan, India and Australia in more than a decade, with meetings of lower-ranking officials from the so-called Quartet.
The summit takes place as a result of the deterioration of relations between the four democracies and China. China had serious clashes with Indian forces in the Himalayan region last year, intensifying operations near the Japanese-administered islands and imposing sanctions on Australian products after a series of disputes.
However, the Biden administration has tried not to clearly link the Quartet to China, and this marks a change in rhetoric following statements condemned by former President Donald Trump about Beijing.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Quartet was not focusing “on a single issue, including China.”
“We are talking about the common interest in defending universal values and rights. We are talking about common economic interests. We are talking about common security interests.” We have close person-to-person contacts with all of these countries, “Price said.
“That’s the Quartet,” he added.
