Coordinated approach toward China an element of Blinken's trip to Asia: spokesman

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss ways to jointly deal with China when he visits South Korea and Japan next week, the State Department spokesman said Thursday, calling it one of objectives of Blinken's upcoming trip.

Ned Price said the secretary's trip will demonstrate the importance the US places on its alliances, as well as its efforts to reinvigorate them.

"Of course, a coordinated approach to China is one of the elements that will be on the agenda in both countries. China, at the same time, is not going to dominate the agenda," the department spokesman told a press briefing.

Blinken, together with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is set to travel to Japan and South Korea between Monday and Thursday.

"Secretary Blinken, President Biden. Secretary Austin, they have all made a commitment to show and to demonstrate both in word and in deed that our partners and our alliances are (important), that we attach the value to them," Price said. "And I think that is what this first physical trip demonstrates."

The US has long urged its Asian allies, including South Korea, to call out what it has called "bad behaviors" by China when they see them.

The US has also been pushing to expand a regional forum, known as the Quad, largely to deal with China, although the department spokesman said the grouping is not designed to focus on any "single issue" or single country.

"We recognize that Quad members are uniquely positioned to help lead the region out of crises and to help move the region towards the more positive vision we all seek, both to address these crises and to seize these opportunities that are presented to all of us collectively," he said.

"So I would dissuade you from the idea that the Quad is focused, again, on any single issue to include China."

The department spokesman reiterated Blinken's visit to Seoul and Tokyo will highlight the countries' shared values.

"The secretary is traveling to the Indo-Pacific to meet in person with our treaty allies -- the Japanese and the South Koreans -- primarily because we know that our global system of alliances and partnerships is again a core source of strength," said Price.

"The military might call our partnerships and alliances force multipliers. We call them necessary. We call them imperative to achieve not only our interests, to stand up not only for our values, but to achieve common interests and to stand up for universal values and universal rights," he added.

Immediately after his visit to Seoul that will end next Thursday, Blinken will be joined by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Alaska for a meeting with their Chinese counterparts.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki has hinted that the US-China meeting has been specifically scheduled to follow Blinken's trip to the two US allies in Asia.

"It was important to us that this administration's first meeting with Chinese officials be held on American soil, and occur after we have met and consulted closely with partners and allies in both Asia and Europe," she said earlier. (Yonhap)