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Top US Officials in Asia on First Overseas Visit

Jason Strother

   SEOUL - Secretary of State AntonyBlinkenand Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin
   will meet with allies in Japan and South Korea this week to
   reaffirmthetrans-Pacific partnerships in the face of an increasingly
   assertive China andsilentNorth Korea.

   Washington's top diplomatic and defense officials will begin their tour
   of the region Monday with a stop in Tokyo, marking their first overseas
   travel as representatives of the Biden administration.

   Blinkenand Austin will holdwhat'sknown as a"two-plus-two,"a meeting
   between foreign and defense chiefswith their Japanese counterparts,
   Foreign Minister ToshimitsuMotegiand Minister of Defense Nobuo
   Kishi,Tuesdaybeforedepartingfor Seoul on Wednesday.
   U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks to Defense Department
   personnel at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 10, 2021.

   Theselectionof these two countriesfor first stopsreflects the new
   U.S.president's security concerns in Northeast Asia, say some
   observers.

   "The fact that SecretariesBlinkenand Austin are making their first
   overseas trip to Japan and South Korea demonstrates the deep importance
   the United States places on these two allies," Patricia Kim, a senior
   policy analyst at the government-funded U.S.Institute of Peace,wrote in
   an emailed statement on Friday.

   "Seoul and Tokyo are critical partners for collectively addressing the
   challenges posed by China and advancing peace in the Korean Peninsula,"
   Kim said.

   Relations between the world's two largest economies are at a low point
   due in part toatrade war that former president Donald Trumpinitiatedas
   well as rising military tensions in areas that China regards as its
   sphere of influence.

   Less than twomonths into his presidency, Joe Biden has signaled
   thathe'sin no hurry to relieve some of the pressure that his
   predecessor placedonBeijing. His administration hasmaintainedimport
   tariffs, voiced support for Taiwan's democratic government and
   condemned President's XiJingpingfor alleged human rights abuses in Hong
   Kong and Xinjiang.China's Xinjiang region has been the center of
   allegations of forced labor and other human rights violations.

   Last week, the [1]White House releasedits national
   securitystrategydocument that described China as "the only competitor
   potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military,
   and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and
   open international system."

   By dispatching his secretaries to the capitals of two of America's
   closest partners, the new president hopes to shore up a
   multilateralcounterbalanceto China in the region,experts say.

   "China is our pacing threat," Defense Secretary Austin, a retired
   U.S.Army general,

   told reporters while en-route to Asia, the Pentagon said in a
   statement."Our goal is to make sure that we have the capabilities and
   the operational plans and concepts to be able to offer credible
   deterrence to China or anybody else who would want to take on the U.S."

   Despite these remarks, Washington is signaling that it is still open to
   dialogue with Beijing.

   SecretaryBlinkenand White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan
   are expected to meet later in the week with Wang Yi, China's foreign
   minister, and chief diplomat YangJiechiin Anchorage, Alaska- the first
   time since last June that officials from both countries have held
   bilateral talks.

   North Koreansilence

   Finding common ground on how tocoercethe Kim Jong-un regime back to
   dialogue will be another priority during the secretaries' visits to
   Tokyo and Seoul.

   President Biden has yet to announce his strategy toward North Korea,
   but a policy review is currently underway.

   But, since February, the Biden administration hasattemptedto reachout
   to Pyongyang through several diplomatic channels, buthasn'treceived any
   response, according to an unnamed U.S.official who spoke with the
   Reuters News Agency.

   Leif-Eric Easley, an associate professor of international studies
   atEwhaWomans University in Seoul, says Pyongyang could be ignoring
   these overtures for any number of reasons, including prioritizing
   domestic economic issues or out of fear of holding talks during the
   COVID-19 pandemic.

   "Pyongyang may be waiting to see what incentives are on offer after the
   Biden policy review," Easley, wrote in an emailresponsetoVOA. "Or North
   Korea might be planning its next weapons test to improve its
   capabilities and raise the stakes for negotiations."

References

   1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NSC-1v2.pd

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