SEOUL: Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin arrived in Seoul on Wednesday with top US diplomat Antony Blinken following for talks with South Korean officials to bolster a united front against an increasingly assertive China and the nuclear-armed North.
The South is the second leg of their inaugural overseas trip, and like their first stop, Japan, a leading security ally of the United States.
The Biden administration is focused on rallying alliances with its key Asian partners to counter a rising China.
Before leaving Tokyo, Secretary of State Blinken accused Beijing of acting more repressively at home and “more aggressively abroad,” citing its activities in the East and South China Seas and toward Taiwan.
“It’s important for us to make clear together that China cannot expect to act with impunity,” Blinken said.
North Korea is likely to move up the agenda in the South, where the US stations 28,500 troops to defend it against its neighbor.
The allies kicked off joint military exercises last week and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s influential sister warned Washington this week against “causing a stink at its first step” if it wants to “sleep in peace for coming four years.”
The statement by Kim Yo Jong, a key adviser to her brother, was the reclusive state’s first explicit reference to the new leadership in Washington, more than four months after Joe Biden was elected to replace Donald Trump – although it still did not mention the 78-year-old Democrat by name.
The US envoys will meet on Thursday with President Moon Jae-in, who brokered the talks process between Kim and Trump in 2018.
Trump’s unorthodox approach to foreign policy saw him trade insults and threats of war with Kim Jong Un before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that saw a series of headline-grabbing meetings.
But ultimately no progress was made toward Washington’s declared aim of denuclearizing North Korea, with a second summit in Hanoi in early 2019 breaking up without an agreement and Pyongyang still under multiple international sanctions for its banned weapons programs.
Blinken and Austin will consult on a review of Washington’s policy toward the North being carried out by the new administration.
But they have already called during their trip for “the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”
The phrase is anathema to Pyongyang, which prefers the broader and more ambiguous “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” which could be taken to include the US nuclear umbrella over the South.
Since Hanoi, Moon’s administration has repeatedly tried to reach out to Pyongyang but has been regularly rebuffed.
Top US officials arrive in Seoul with China, North Korea on agenda
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Top US officials arrive in Seoul with China, North Korea on agenda
- Biden administration focused on rallying alliances with its key Asian partners to counter a rising China
Italian PM pledges to deepen cooperation with African states
- The plan, launched in 2024, aims to promote investment-led cooperation rather than traditional aid
ADDIS ABABA: Italy pledged to deepen cooperation with African countries at its second Italy-Africa summit, the first held on African soil, to review projects launched in critical sectors such as energy and infrastructure during Italy’s first phase of the Mattei Plan for Africa.
The plan, launched in 2024, aims to promote investment-led cooperation rather than traditional aid.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni addressed dozens of African heads of state and governments in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and reiterated that a successful partnership would depend on Italy’s “ability to draw from African wisdom” and ensure lessons are learned.
“We want to build things together,” she told African heads of state. “We want to be more consistent with the needs of the countries involved.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Italy had provided Africa with a gateway to Europe through these partnerships.
“This is a moment to move from dialogue to action,” he said.
“By combining Africa’s energetic and creative population with Europe’s experience, technology, and capital, we can build solutions that deliver prosperity to our continents and beyond.”
After the Italy-Africa summit concluded, African leaders remained in Addis Ababa for the annual African Union Summit.
Kenyan writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola said tangible results from such summits depend on preparations made by countries.
African governments often focus on “optics instead of actually making summits a meaningful engagement,” she said.
Instead of waiting for a list of demands, countries should “present the conclusions of an extended period of mapping the national needs” and engage in dialogue to determine how those needs can be met.
Since it was launched two years ago, the Mattei Plan has directly involved 14 African nations and has launched or advanced around 100 projects in crucial sectors, including energy and climate transition, agriculture and food security, physical and digital infrastructure, healthcare, water, culture and education, training, and the development of artificial intelligence, according to the Italian government.
