WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to push back on “aggression and coercion” in the Indo-Pacific region during a trip to Australia and Fiji next week, a sign the administration is keeping China high on its agenda even as it finds itself focused on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
The meeting next week in Melbourne involving the Quad group of nations — the U.S., Australia, Japan and India — will seek to solidify and institutionalize the informal grouping, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink told reporters in Washington on Friday.
Although officials didn’t mention China, Beijing has criticized the U.S. for building “small cliques” and “inciting bloc confrontation” when Blinken traveled to the region in the past.
