China, Climate, Covid On The Table As Quad Diplomats To Meet Today
NDTV
The Biden administration wants to show the world that its long-term strategic focus remains in the Asia-Pacific.
Climate change, COVID-19 and China's "coercion" in the Indo-Pacific will top the agenda when foreign ministers of the Quad – an informal grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States – convene in Melbourne on Friday, but the discussions will also expand into an escalating crisis between the West and Russia over Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Australia this week as Washington grapples with a dangerous standoff with Moscow, which has massed some 100,000 troops near Ukraine's border and stoked Western fears of an invasion. Russia denies it has such plans.
The Biden administration wants to show the world that its long-term strategic focus remains in the Asia-Pacific and that a major foreign policy crisis in one part of the world does not distract it from key priorities.
Speaking at the start of her bilateral meeting with Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on top of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, climate change and COVID-19 related issues, the two top diplomats will also be discussing China, North Korea and Ukraine.
