KOREA
As part of a series of meetings between the US-South Korea, State Department Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ambassador Atul Keshap and Director-General for ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs of the Republic of Korea Jae-kyung Park pledged to expand cooperation in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific in support of ASEAN centrality and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. They also discussed respect for international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea, advancing digital innovation and smart cities, addressing cyber issues, tackling cross-border challenges across the Mekong River Basin, and expanding cooperation in the maritime domain.
ISRAEL
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas this week about the violence in Israel. This is part of a comprehensive, ongoing outreach and dialogue at all levels of the U.S. Government to its respective counterparts, according to Blinken. The objective is to achieve an end to the violence, which continues to claim the lives of innocent children, women, and men. He said: “We’ve been very clear that rocket attacks must cease. We’ve been very clear about Israel’s right to defend itself. We’re also engaging our regional partners with urgency to see to it that calm prevails, and our heartfelt condolences go out to the loved ones of those lost.” The Middle East was calming down during the Trump Administration. Recent escalations appear to be the worst for many decades with some military analysts predicting a full out ground war in the region.
IRAN
When asked in a press briefing about Iranian involvement in Lebanon’s firing missiles on Israel, Blinken responded “I don’t have anything to offer on whether there is Iranian involvement or not in what’s taking place.” He added “that when it comes to any of the malign activities that Iran may or may not be engaged in, whether it is support for terrorism, whether it’s efforts to destabilize other countries, whether it is other actions that we find objectionable, that only underscores the importance of doing everything we can to make sure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.”
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During a meeting in Washington with the Australian Foreign Minister, Secretary Blinken was asked about China. He said “… with regard to China and economic coercion, we’ve been very clear, both publicly and privately, about the concerns that we have when we see China exerting economic coercion generally, and also specifically with regard to our ally [Australia]. We’ve raised these concerns across the government with Beijing. We’ve done so publicly; we’ve done so privately. And we’ve made clear to the PRC how such actions targeting our closest partners and allies will hinder improvements in our own relationship with China.” The US is working to find new approaches to economic diversification and its critical supply chain to ensure its security. Washington wants to ensure it is outside of China’s reach and is resilient to it efforts at economic coercion.
UKRAINE
The US recently conducted a virtual training exercise with the Ukraine to identify and respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in targeted assassinations, according to the State Department Spokesman.
The purpose of the exercise is to help domestic security services, law enforcement, and first responders identify, respond to, and investigate assassinations involving WMD. Recent events in Europe have highlighted the real threat of government-sanctioned, targeted weapons of mass destruction attacks, according to a statement from the State Department.
“These attacks have highlighted the need for countries to have effective national responses, particularly strong and established communication between technical experts, law enforcement, and national security stakeholders. As part of the training in Ukraine, U.S. law enforcement and medical experts provided local officials with information to identify the medical symptoms that indicate WMD material use, the attack cycle involved in WMD assassination attempts, and the specific measures that enable safe and secure detection and response to WMD incidents.”