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Blinken to Visit Asia to Emphasize Commitment Despite Ukraine Crisis

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, DC, US February 4, 2022. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, DC, US February 4, 2022. (Reuters)
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Blinken to Visit Asia to Emphasize Commitment Despite Ukraine Crisis

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, DC, US February 4, 2022. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, DC, US February 4, 2022. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken goes to Asia next week for talks with Indo-Pacific allies, including a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation Quad, the State Department said on Friday.

Blinken is making the trip despite the mounting crisis over Ukraine and policy analysts say the aim is to show the Indo-Pacific region support and that pushing back against China's expanding influence remains Washington's top priority.

Blinken will leave Washington on Monday and be in Australia from Feb.9-12 for the meeting of the Quad - the United States, Japan, India and Australia.

Blinken will then meet Pacific Island leaders in Fiji before heading to Hawaii to confer with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korea issue.

The State Department said the purpose of the trip was "to engage Indo-Pacific allies and partners to advance peace, resilience, and prosperity across the region and demonstrate that these partnerships deliver."

The trip was announced even as China and Russia proclaimed a deep strategic partnership on Friday to balance what they portrayed as the malign global influence of the United States.

The State Department said that in Fiji on Feb. 12 Blinken would discuss the climate crisis, COVID-19, disaster assistance, and "ways to further our shared commitment to democracy, regional solidarity, and prosperity" with Pacific Island leaders.

He will be the first US secretary of state to visit Fiji since 1985.

A senior US official has said President Joe Biden's administration plans to start a new Pacific Islands initiative with allies and partners that would bring together regional countries to "raise our ambition in the region, including on climate, maritime, and transportation issues."

The official said it would at the same time finalize negotiations on Compacts of Free Association: agreements with three Pacific Island countries - the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau - that facilitate US military access. They are due to expire in 2023 in the case of the former two states and in 2024 in the case of Palau.

US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell has said that the Pacific could be the part of the world most likely to see "strategic surprise" - comments apparently referring to possible Chinese ambitions to establish Pacific-island bases.

Washington had not done enough to assist the region and that there was a very short amount of time, Campbell said, to work with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and fellow Pacific power France, "to step up our game across the board."

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World

Japan Deploys Long-Range Missiles Near China

The Type-12 land-to-ship missile launcher is shown at the Camp Kengun in the Kumamoto prefecture, western Japan, on March 17, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)
The Type-12 land-to-ship missile launcher is shown at the Camp Kengun in the Kumamoto prefecture, western Japan, on March 17, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)
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Japan Deploys Long-Range Missiles Near China

The Type-12 land-to-ship missile launcher is shown at the Camp Kengun in the Kumamoto prefecture, western Japan, on March 17, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)
The Type-12 land-to-ship missile launcher is shown at the Camp Kengun in the Kumamoto prefecture, western Japan, on March 17, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwest region near China, its defense minister said Tuesday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years.

The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea.

"Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country... while ensuring the safety of our personnel," said Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

"This is an extremely important initiative for strengthening Japan's deterrence and response capabilities," he added.

The surface-to-ship guided missile system has a range of around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), putting parts of the Chinese mainland within reach -- Shanghai lies about 900 kilometers from Kumamoto.

Koizumi also said a "hyper velocity gliding projectile", designed to defend remote islands from enemy forces, had been deployed in Shizuoka, another coastal area closer to Tokyo which faces the Pacific.

Japan has long had a policy to use its military only for self-defense in its most strict meaning.

But in recent years Tokyo has steadily built its defense capacity as regional neighbors including China, Russia and North Korea increase their military activities in the region.

In 2022 it approved a plan to deploy missiles with counter-attack capability.

"If we continue to rely solely on ballistic missile defense... it will become increasingly difficult to fully address the threat" of missiles with advanced technologies, a defense white paper issued last year said.

China is beefing up its military and is engaged in a number of territorial disputes with other countries in the region, including Japan over the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.

Japan's ties with Beijing have soured in recent months after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on self-ruled Taiwan.

China views Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.

Critics of Tokyo's move to deploy missiles could make the area a target of possible enemy attacks.

Earlier this month, local media reported that Japan's ground force delivered a launcher for the missiles to Kumamoto without warning local communities, prompting dozens of opponents to stage a protest in front of a local military base.

World

Eight Injured in Israel After Iran Missile Fire

A photograph shows the damage at the site of an Iranian strike in a residential neighborhood of Bnei Brak on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows the damage at the site of an Iranian strike in a residential neighborhood of Bnei Brak on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
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Eight Injured in Israel After Iran Missile Fire

A photograph shows the damage at the site of an Iranian strike in a residential neighborhood of Bnei Brak on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows the damage at the site of an Iranian strike in a residential neighborhood of Bnei Brak on March 31, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's emergency services said Tuesday that eight people with minor injuries were evacuated to hospitals in the Tel Aviv area, where police reported falling munitions fragments after an alert for incoming Iranian missiles.

Six of the injured were treated in the city of Bnei Brak, which is largely populated by ultra-Orthodox Jews, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross.

It specified that they were in mild condition with blast injuries.

The military's Home Front Command said it had received "reports of damage" in the central parts of the country.

Earlier on Tuesday, at least 10 blasts were heard in the Jerusalem area after missile launches from Iran were detected though no injuries were subsequently reported.

World

Jailed PKK Founder Ocalan Asks to Address Turks Directly

FILE - Youngsters hold a photograph of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader in Diyarbakir, Türkiye, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Metin Yoksu, File)
FILE - Youngsters hold a photograph of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader in Diyarbakir, Türkiye, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Metin Yoksu, File)
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Jailed PKK Founder Ocalan Asks to Address Turks Directly

FILE - Youngsters hold a photograph of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader in Diyarbakir, Türkiye, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Metin Yoksu, File)
FILE - Youngsters hold a photograph of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader in Diyarbakir, Türkiye, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Metin Yoksu, File)

Jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, who is being held in solitary confinement, said on Tuesday he wanted to be able to speak freely to the Turkish public.

Last year, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) formally renounced its armed struggle against the Turkish state after four decades of violence that has killed at least 50,000 people on both sides.

In a message published by a delegation of lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM party, who were authorized to visit him on Friday, Ocalan reaffirmed his commitment to the peace process.

"The period of armed struggle is over. There is no going back," he said.

"I think it is important for me to be able to reach a wider public so my views on this process are properly understood."

"The government must acknowledge that no destructive activity is being carried out and there is no threat to the country's security," said the 76-year-old Ocalan, who has spent the last 27 years in detention.

He urged the parliamentary commission set up to define the future status of the PKK and its former fighters to establish "without delay, a comprehensive and inclusive legal framework".