The brewing crisis between Ukraine and Russia and the United States’ engagement in it has drawn fresh concerns within the Indo-Pacific, a region that Washington has declared as its long-term strategic focus, particularly in countering the Chinese regime. Some experts and U.S. lawmakers fear the crisis in Europe will distract the United States from its commitments to the Indo-Pacific, particularly in relation to Taiwan, the self-ruled that China eyes for itself, thus sharing a similar predicament to Ukraine vis-à-vis Russia. Amidst these concerns, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed down south to Australia on Feb. 8 to reinforce Washington’s policies and goals in the Indo-Pacific. He landed in Melbourne on Wednesday to hold meetings with his counterparts from the “QUAD” grouping—Australia, India, and Japan. The link between the crisis in Ukraine and the geopolitics in Indo-Pacific came into a sharp focus earlier when just before the opening of the Winter …