South Korea and Japan said Pyongyang fired multiple ballistic missiles into the sea. Meanwhile, Blinken is in Seoul for the third Summit for Democracy. North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters on Monday, amid US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Seoul for a democracy summit. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported the detection of "several" suspected short-range ballistic missile launches by North Korea on Monday morning. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary session that the North Korean missiles landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. No damage or injuries have been reported. The US State Department criticized the missile launches, calling them a threat to the security of the region. Blinken attending democracy summit This latest military posturing by Pyongyang comes as Blinken was visiting Seoul to attend a conference hosted by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Blinken is also scheduled to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart on the sidelines of the third Summit for Democracy in Seoul. The summit is an initiative of US President Joe Biden, focusing on exploring strategies to stop the global decline of democracy and the erosion of rights and freedoms. The meeting, running from March 18 to 20, will host government officials, NGOs and civil society members. The US secretary of state's trip includes meetings with South Korean officials, and aims to reinforce alliances. US-South Korea conclude joint military exercise The North Korean missile launch comes just after the 11-day annual Freedom Shield joint military exercises between the US and South Korea concluded on Thursday. North Korea has condemned the exercises in the past as preparation for invasion. Pyongyang recently threatened Seoul and Washington with severe consequences for their Freedom Shield exercises, saying there would be a "dear price" to be paid. In January, tensions soared after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un proposed constitutional changes to abandon peaceful Korean unification efforts. Kim suggested declaring South Korea as its "invariable principal enemy," and threatened annexation in case of war. Tensions in the peninsula have been high with North Korea's frequent missile tests since 2022.  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Friday to discuss defense and strategic collaboration in the face of global challenges. They were joined by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh for the talks. The top US and Indian officials met for the annual "2+2 Dialogue" to discuss issues of concern, including security and strengthen bilateral ties. Friday's discussions focused on the Indo-Pacific region, China, and the Israel-Hamas conflict. According to Jaishankar, the dialogue aims to establish "a forward-looking partnership" and help "construct a shared global agenda." Defense, a key pillar of India-US bilateral ties Blinken's tour of Asia is seen as a move to show unity with regional partners over Russia's war in Ukraine as well as to find common ground over the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The secretary of state's tour has seen him visit key allies in Asia, such as South Korea and Japan. Washington and New Delhi have taken steps to boost their relations, but these are still mired by significant differences, especially in how to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "We are promoting a free and open and prosperous Asia-Pacific, including by strengthening our partnership in the Quad with Japan and Australia," Blinken said at the start of the meeting. US Defense Secretary Austin and Indian counterpart Singh are set to discuss a plan for industrial defense collaboration to accelerate technology partnership and joint production in various areas, according to the US Defense Department. Singh highlighted defense as an important pillar of the India-US bilateral relationship and said despite "various emerging geopolitical challenges, we need to keep our focus on important and long-term issues." Talks to build on Modi-Biden vision The "2+2 Dialogue" seeks to build on the foundation laid by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in June and the subsequent trip of US President Joe Biden to New Delhi for the G20 summit in September. "Together we have been taking very concrete steps to deliver on the vision that our two leaders put forward," Blinken said. Blinken also addressed the fallout between India and Canada that was sparked by allegations that India was involved in the murder of a Canadian citizen. "These are two of our closest friends and partners and, of course, we want to see them resolving any differences or disputes that they have," Blinken said. "As a friend of both, we think it's very important that India work with Canada on its investigation, and that they find a way to resolve this difference in a cooperative way." These annual meetings, which started in 2018, aim to align policy objectives and deepen defense ties between the two nations, especially regarding concerns over regional issues, including China's increasing assertiveness and the situation in Gaza and Ukraine. Washington hopes a stronger defense partnership will gradually reduce India's reliance on its main military supplier, Russia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopped in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday evening, in an unannounced visit as part of his ongoing Middle East tour. Blinken held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, during his first visit to Iraq as a top diplomat. The Secretary of State said his country was working hard to ensure the conflict in Gaza does not spill over in the region. He added that the aid delivered to the besieged strip since the start of the conflict is "grossly insufficient." Blinken added that the US was intensely focused on the release of the hostages held by Hamas. Ahead of the visit on Saturday, Iran-backed group Kataib Hezbollah, which is based in Iraq, warned that Blinken's trip would be met with an "unprecedented escalation."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wild allegations against India have mustered all the terrorist-sponsoring, sheltering countries together to debunk the entire edifice of `global war on terror` and bolster terrorist groups across the world. When Pakistan and the US, along with other allies, created terrorist groups, armed and trained them in Afghanistan, they were called mujahideen, the freedom fighters. The same set, a few years down the line, became the `most dangerous terrorists in the world` when they hit the twin-towers and other iconic symbols of the US, in 2001. The US then began a `global war on terror` in other countries, followed up with another round of killings by drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and remained unsullied by any accusation. The Afghans and Pakistanis were too poor to raise their voice against such blatant killing of men, women and children, day after day. Prime Minister Trudeau, in one go, became a close ally of terrorists and gave them the much needed state protection after all these years of bombing, intelligence cooperation and military campaigns in distant countries like Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Pakistan. So what happens to the `global war on terror`? Was it another ghastly joke on humanity from the self-appointed guardians of the world? The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is acutely aware of what his predecessors have said about the `snakes in the backyard`. These `snakes` have been sheltered not only by his country but many of the US allies. Canada being one of the most profligate in providing sanctuaries to terrorists, quite like Pakistan. The most dangerous fallout of this audacious allegation is how the terrorists benefit from this churlish one-upmanship. The allegations and the support offered by various countries seem to back terrorists rather than supporting countries which have shown the gumption to take on terrorists. Israel was one but no one dares speak about Tel Aviv. Now comes the squeak from the Pakistan Army’s ventriloquist doll, caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul Haq Kakar. Since he didn’t know what he was reading from the notes he had memorised early, Pakistan Prime Minister Kakar called upon the international community to check `rough behaviour` on the part of India. He made this comment in New York where, years before, the US administration was seriously mulling Pakistan being declared a terrorist sponsoring country. Former US President Donald Trump in 2018 had in a speech in August, raised hell against Pakistan– “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting.” His administration subsequently decided to suspend military aid to Pakistan. Secretary of State Blinken must not be ignorant of the thousands of American soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan, largely due to the complicity of the Pakistani army and intelligence. Al Jazeera wrote in December 2019 about Pakistan’s perfidy this “In taking Washington’s dollars but supporting its opponents, Pakistan certainly played a double-game, one whose effects were especially felt in the mid-2000s, when the Taliban was on the defensive. Pakistani aid and sanctuary ensured that the Taliban would have the space to regroup physically, politically, militarily, and organisationally.“ Now both the US and Pakistan seem to join hands to cover up their complicity in creating, suffering and then trying to defeat terrorists who continue to thrive, and more so after Trudeau’s charlatan game. Source: dailysikh.com

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, where he was expected to stay overnight, coinciding with an announcement of a new military and humanitarian aid package worth over $1 billion (approximately €932 million). The package includes security assistance to Kyiv worth up to $175 million, the Pentagon announced. It also includes $100 million in foreign military financing, $90.5 million for demining assistance, $300 million to support law enforcement in areas recaptured from Russia, $206 million in humanitarian aid, and $203 million for reform efforts and the investigation of war crimes. In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Blinken said: "Returned to Kyiv today to meet with our Ukrainian partners to discuss their ongoing counteroffensive, future assistance and reconstruction efforts, and above all, to reinforce the unwavering U.S. commitment to Ukraine."  Blinken meets Ukraine's top three Washington's top diplomat met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and was also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for talks on the current counteroffensive and efforts to rebuild the country. During the meeting with Zelenskyy, Blinken vowed that Washington would continue to walk "side by side" with Ukraine. The secretary of state hailed what he described as "very encouraging" progress in Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia, which Kyiv launched earlier this summer. "We see the important progress that's being made now in the counteroffensive and that's very, very encouraging," Blinken said.  The United States has invested more than $43.8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, including more than $43.1 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to State Department figures. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Blinken that Washington's support was "not charity," saying: "Today, thanks to our partners, Ukraine is restraining Russia's aggression." Blinken previously visited Ukraine in April 2022  — together with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin — and September 2022.  Before Wednesday, there had been no mention of the trip from his department, and it came as Ukraine's Parliament approved the appointment of a new defense minister after Oleksii Reznikov was dismissed over the weekend. "Parliament approved Rustem Umerov as the defense minister of Ukraine," senior lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on social media after Wednesday's vote.   Fresh Ukraine assistance includes contentious tank rounds Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced the latest assistance package to Ukraine. The package includes additional air defense equipment, artillery munitions, anti-tank weapons and other equipment, the Pentagon said in a statement. It also includes 120mm depleted uranium tank ammunition for Abrams tanks.  The decision to provide Ukraine with depleted uranium rounds, amid health concerns about inhaling or swallowing particulates if near explosions caused by such rounds, could stir controversy. The reason the ammunition is used is the high density of the material, making it suitable both as armor and for piercing armor. The US was scheduled to start shipping Abrams tanks to Ukraine around September. Abrams tanks have depleted uranium armor and can also use depleted uranium rounds. Ammunition stockpiles have been dwindling amid the deliveries to Ukraine. Britain has already sent such rounds to Ukraine, but this would be the first US shipment. Visit comes amid fresh Russian airstrikes Blinken's visit came on the same day that a Russian missile strike killed at least 16 people and injured over 30 more at what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a "regular market" in the city of Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region, and just hours after reports that Russia had launched its first missile attack on the capital in a week. While there were no reports of deaths or injuries in the capital, regional officials said one civilian was killed and port infrastructure was damaged in airstrikes in the southern region of Odesa. Shortly after arriving in Kyiv, Blinken placed a wreath at the Berkovetske cemetery in commemoration of Ukrainian military personnel killed while defending the country. "We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive but has what it needs for the long-term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent," Blinken said during the visit. "We're also determined to continue to work with our partners as they build and rebuild a strong economy, strong democracy," Blinken said. DW's Max Zander said the visit comes at a critical time for Ukraine as the fight against Russia's invasion grinds on. "We cannot underestimate the symbolic value of this visit. This is more than 550 into the war, the Ukrainians are tired of fighting this war but the allies are also affected by it," Zander said from Kyiv, and added that the visit was "likely also about showing the Ukrainians, that Ukraine's biggest donor, the biggest supporter when it comes to military aid, is still on its side." Moscow reacts The Kremlin, meanwhile, has commented on Blinken's visit, saying it is a clear indication that Washington intends on funding Kyiv "until the last Ukrainian." "We have heard repeated statements that they [the Americans] intend to continue to help Kyiv for as long as it takes," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "In other words, they are going to continue to support Ukraine in a state of war and to wage this war to the last Ukrainian, sparing no money for this. That's how we perceive it, we know it. It's not going to affect the course of the special military operation," Peskov said, using Russia's terminology to characterize the invasion of Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden suggested that the diplomat's rare visit to Beijing has led to progress amid soured relations with China. The United States and China are on the "right trail" after senior official Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing, US President Joe Biden said on Monday. "We're on the right trail here," Biden told reporters after a climate event in California, adding that Blinken had made progress on his two-day trip which concluded on Monday.  Blinken did "a hell of a job," Biden added, touting the efforts of his top diplomat.  During Blinken's visit, the US and China agreed to stabilize their relations and maintain communication lines open to avoid an all-out conflict between the two nations. Souring US-Sino ties Relations between Washington and Beijing had reached an all-time low due to growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait. An intensifying rivalry in the semiconductor industry, an incident where the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon and disagreements on Russia's war in Ukraine have also contributed to the soured relations.  Blinken is the highest-ranking US official to have visited the Chinese capital in five years. He met with China's President Xi Jinping and other senior officials.  In his meeting with Xi, Blinken touched upon all key contentious issues between China and the US. "We have made progress and we are moving forward," Blinken told reporters in Beijing, but acknowleged that: "None of this gets resolved with one visit."   Active talks on release of three Americans The US and China are also discussing the release of three US citizens detained in China, Blinken said later in an interview with US broadcaster CBS News. "I don't want to get into the details, but we are very actively talking about that," he said. The three Americans are David Lin, a pastor has been imprisoned in China since 2006; Kai Li, who was given a 10-year sentence in 2018 for spying charges and Mark Swidan, a Texas businessman convicted by a Chinese court in 2019. The US claims all three were wrongfully convicted.  "It (their release) would, regardless of anything else be a very important and positive development and we're working intensely," Blinken said.

US officials hope that Antony Blinken's visit to China will reopen communication lines and lower tensions with Beijing. Blinken might also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the trip. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday, starting off the second and final day of his visit to China. Blinken's visit has been marked with critical meetings with senior Chinese officials as the two sides expressed willingness to talk, at a time when US-China relations are at an all-time low.  The two officials shook hands at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing. Neither Blinken, nor Wang, made any comments to reporters as they greeted each other before sitting for their discussion. Blinken was originally due to visit China in February, but the trip was postponed after the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the country. Meanwhile, tensions have continued to rise over Taiwan, the South China Sea and Russia's war in Ukraine. The US and China have also stepped up their rivalry in the global semiconductor industry. Will Blinken meet Xi?  Blinken may also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before he departs later on Monday. While there has been no confirmation of such a meeting, diplomats said it was likely to take place. Blinken on Sunday met Foreign Minister Qin Gang for seven and a half hours with both sides agreeing to keep communication lines open to avoid an all-out conflict. 

Blinken is the first US secretary of state to visit China in five years. His visit aims to thaw the relationship between the two countries amid rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday ahead of talks aimed at easing tension between the two superpowers. Blinken is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years. He was originally due to visit China in February, but the trip was postponed after the US shot town an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over its territory. Meanwhile, tensions have continued to rise in the Taiwan Strait. "There's a recognition on both sides that we do need to have senior-level channels of communication," a senior State Department official told reporters during a refueling stop in Tokyo on the way to Beijing. "That we are at an important point in the relationship where I think reducing the risk of miscalculation, or as our Chinese friends often say, stopping the downward spiral in the relationship, is something that's important," they added.  Ahead of his departure, Blinken said he would seek to "responsibly manage our relationship" by finding ways to avoid "miscalculations" between the US and China. "Intense competition requires sustained diplomacy to ensure that competition does not veer into confrontation or conflict," he said. What's on the agenda? Blinken plans to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and top diplomat Wang Yi on Sunday. US officials said he could potentially also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday. On Saturday, Biden also said he hopes to meet with Xi in the coming months. But both sides say the relationship needs work. "The US needs to give up the illusion of dealing with China 'from a position of strength'," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin ahead of the visit. "China and the US must develop relations on the basis of mutual respect and equality, respect their difference in history, culture, social system and development path."

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said, "There is nothing to feel anxious about the United States newly announced visa policy." On Thursday, May 25, Mr. Momen uttered his hope that the groups who indulge in violence, arson and destruction, will be vigilant. Foreign Minister Momen told, "We do not want any arson, violence and destruction. We hope that through the United States visa policy, these type of acts (arson, violence and destruction) will abate." We are not under pressure. Relationship between the United States and Bangladesh is very good. Newly visa policy of the United States will strengthen Sheikh Hasina's position. She wants to arrange a free and fair election. Mr. Momen said, "Awami League always committed to voters. Our Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also promised this." The Foreign Minister added, "We take it (the matter coming from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken) positively."

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke over the phone on Sunday where they discussed regional as well as global issues. “A warm conversation, as always with US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this morning. Discussed current regional and global issues. Noted the steady progress in our bilateral ties,” Jaishankar tweeted. During an earlier meeting in March, the two leaders met and held discussions on measures to mitigate the global impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Blinken and Jaishankar held talks on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi. At this meeting, Blinken shared his views on tackling global and regional challenges with Jaishankar. US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said issued a statement at the time saying that the two parties discussed ways how India and the US can expand technology and defence cooperation and increase food energy, and health security. Ned Price also informed that Blinken and Jaishankar spoke about efforts to elevate and expand strategic technology and defence industrial cooperation and promote food, energy, and global health security. The two leaders also held discussions to promote clean energy transition, counternarcotics cooperation and women’s economic empowerment. In March, the state secretary visited India to attend the Raisina Dialogue, the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Quad Foreign Ministers Meet. During this trip, Blinken echoed his comments with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he said that there are real challenges to multilateralism and added that they are directly coming from Russia. Source: First Post