US State Sec. Antony Blinken is currently touring Asia for diplomatic and security meetings. Blinken’s 10-day, 6-country tour began in Vietnam where he attended the funeral of Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary of the country’s communist party. His next stops are Laos, Japan, Philippines and Singapore. His tour will end in Mongolia on August 3. The tour was initiated after the current US president Joseph Biden withdrew his candidacy for the US presidency in the November elections.

In Japan and the Philippines, Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin will join Blinken for the so-called 2+2 meetings. These meetings are between the secretaries of foreign relations and national defense of the respective countries. Daniel Kritenbrink, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs will be in attendance.

Kritenbrink said the tour is being carried out to reassure US “allies” in Asia that the Biden government’s commitment remains “ironclad” in its last six months in power.

In Japan, the two countries are set to ratify unities reached in April at the Trilateral Summit held between the US, Japan and the Philippines. This includes Japan raising its military budget to “historic levels” to increase its military capabilities against “common” rival China. This also includes Japan’s development of nuclear weapons under the guise of “nuclear deterrence”.

At US prodding, Japan has gotten more brazen in warmongering in the region. Just last July 4, one of its destroyer ships, the Suzutsuki, deliberately entered China’s territorial waters (within 12 nautical miles from the shore) near Zhejiang province to “observe” the military exercises China was conducting at that time. Like the US, Japan uses “innocent passage” as pretext for deliberate encroachment despite China requiring foreign ships to notify them before entering their territory. Like the Philippines, China and Japan have a maritime dispute over the ownership of the Senkaku Islands.

The Quad meeting was also held in Japan, with the foreign ministers of India and Australia in attendance.

Meanwhile, the US-Pilipinas 2+2 will be held for the first time in the Philippines on July 30, after regularly holding it in the US since it was first launched in 2012. Blinken and Austin will meet with the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs Sec. Enrique Manalo and Department of National Defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro. Before this, the two US officials will meet with Ferdinand Marcos in Malacañang on July 29.

The US declared that the talks will cover matters in the South China Sea, including skirmishes between China’s coast guard and Philippine soldiers. This will take place after the Philippines reached an agreement with China regarding the conduct of supply delivery to the BRP Sierra Madre shipwrecked in Ayungin Shoal. It was reported today that a supply delivery was carried out peacefully.

The General Security of Military Information Agreement, another unequal military agreement between the US and the Philippines, will be formalized in the 2+2 meeting. The agreement stipulates the “sharing” of sensitive military information between the two countries, which will most likely obligate only the Philippines. This formalizes the long-standing US intervention in internal matters related to Philippine national security.

Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP, stated that the arrival of Austin and Blinken in the country is a clear indication of US imperialism’s plan to further strengthen its military presence in Asia. He described the two as “the biggest war monsters of the US government.”