Blinken, Austin to visit Japan, Philippines amid high Indo-Pacific tensions

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit Japan and the Philippines at the end of this week as tensions have reached a high point in the Indo-Pacific region amid clashes between Filipino sailors and Chinese crews.

Austin will make his 11th visit to the Indo-Pacific region since becoming defense secretary when he departs on Friday for Japan, where he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with their Japanese counterparts.

In Tokyo, Austin will also meet with Japanese Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru and South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik in the first meeting between the three since founding a historic trilateral alliance last year.

That meeting will come amid a rise in tensions between North Korea and South Korea, who have both recently abandoned a 2018 pact to demilitarize the border between them. Pyongyang has begun sending trash balloons over the border and Seoul has broadcast messages to North Koreans with loudspeakers, while North Korea’s missile rocket tests and spy satellite launches have increasingly worried South Korea.

After Tokyo, Austin and Blinken will travel to the Philippines and meet with their counterparts in Manila and then return to Annapolis, Md., to meet with Australian officials on Aug. 6.

The upcoming meetings underscore the U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific as Washington increasingly looks to counter China in the region and ensure the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan, an island nation Beijing considers part of the mainland.

The trip also comes after Chinese ships have rammed and sprayed Filipino sailors with water cannons over repeated clashes at the disputed reef Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines has sought to resupply its presence at a beached ship.

The fighting reached a high point last month when Chinese sailors attacked a Filipino crew with machetes and seized weapons and equipment. At least one Filipino sailor lost his thumb in the confrontation.

China and the Philippines announced a deal on Sunday that may avert further escalation in the region, according to The Associated Press. It’s not clear what the exact terms of the deal are, as the text has not been released.