Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will meet with officials in Japan and South Korea in March in an effort to advance the Biden administration’s Indo-pacific strategy, against the backdrop of an increasingly hostile China. Austin will join Blinken on March 16–17, in Japan for the U.S./Japan Security Consultative Committee hosted by Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi and Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi, to strengthen the two countries’ cooperation in an effort to keep “peace and security in a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of long-term competition with China.” On March 17–18, Austin and Blinken will attend a U.S./South Korean Foreign and Defense Ministerial hosted by Korea’s Foreign Minister Chung Eui-Yong and Minister of Defense Suh Wook, to discuss security in the region and how the U.S.-Korean “alliance remains a linchpin of peace, security, and prosperity in Northeast Asia, …