Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Dec. 11 and reaffirmed their respective nations’ combined efforts to promote peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, amid concerns over China’s military and economic ambitions in the region. The two diplomats also discussed “deepening the U.S.–Australia alliance,” “the importance of committing to ambitious climate action in the next decade,” and their mutual concern over “Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and reiterated support for a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues without resorting to threats or coercion,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. They also “emphasized Taiwan’s important contributions to global health development,” according to Price. Blinken and Payne “agreed on the importance of having a Senate-confirmed Ambassador in place” in Canberra—Australia’s capital city—”as soon as possible in light of the scope and scale of shared challenges we face,” Price said. The meeting came on the …