Wong said the meetings were aimed at strengthening coordination with key regional partners as instability linked to the Iran conflict affects international energy supplies and shipping routes.

In Tokyo, Wong is scheduled to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi for discussions on fuel security, regional stability and the Middle East conflict.

In Beijing, she will hold the eighth Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, describing the talks as an opportunity to advance shared interests while managing strategic differences between Canberra and Beijing.

In Seoul, Wong will meet South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, noting that South Korea remains one of Australia’s most important suppliers of refined fuels.Australia imports the majority of its fuel requirements and has faced localized shortages since the Middle East conflict began in February, exposing vulnerabilities in supply chains and raising concerns over long-term energy resilience.

“These meetings will help ensure we are coordinating effectively,” Wong said in a statement, pointing to volatility in oil and gas markets caused by the conflict and disruptions to major shipping corridors.

The diplomatic push reflects Canberra’s effort to secure stable energy flows while balancing strategic relations across Asia, particularly with China, its largest trading partner, and close security partners Japan and South Korea.

Energy security has become a growing concern for Australia as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and broader regional instability continue to affect fuel prices and shipping reliability across the Indo-Pacific.

The visit also comes as Australia seeks to strengthen regional cooperation on both economic security and broader geopolitical challenges linked to the Middle East war.

The Japanese destroyer sailed through the strait from early morning to late afternoon, according to a statement by a Chinese military spokesperson, who said naval and air forces were deployed to observe the vessel throughout its passage.

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces declined to comment on the transit. The passage comes against the backdrop of heightened regional tensions over Taiwan, which claims as its territory despite opposition from ’s government.

Beijing considers the Taiwan issue a core national interest and frequently characterizes it as a “red line” in diplomatic relations. It also asserts sovereignty over the strait, a key international shipping route, and has responded strongly to foreign naval movements in the area.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said at a press briefing that the transit represented a “display of force” and accused Japan of compounding earlier tensions with what he described as “mistakes upon mistakes.” He added that China had lodged formal diplomatic protests with Tokyo.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent months, particularly after remarks by Japanese Prime Minister suggesting that a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response.

China’s military had previously tracked a foreign naval transit through the strait in February, when an Australian warship sailed the same route, according to state-backed media reports. The latest incident underscores persistent friction over freedom of navigation and sovereignty claims in one of Asia’s most strategically sensitive waterways.

Raimondo, made the remark at a bilateral meeting with Japan, one of the 14 IPEF countries in the U.S.-led talks.

She did not specify any details of the agreements, but the Commerce Department has led the negotiations on pillars covering supply chains, cooperation on clean energy on fighting corruption and tax evasion.

Addressing Japan’s trade, economy and industry minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura and foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, Raimondo said: “I want to thank both of you for your strong support of the IPEF. We had an excellent ministerial earlier today, closing out the three pillars of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.”

Her remarks revealed IPEF member countries have agreed on terms of the clean energy pillar, which aims to boost cooperation on de-carbonization efforts and on the anti-corruption chapter, which aims also aims to curb tax evasion and help countries build stronger institutions and laws.

Raimondo last May had announced the completion of the supply chains pillar, which set up an early warning and consultation system for supply chain disruptions due to natural disasters and other factors. A text was completed in September.

The fourth pillar, on trade, is not close to agreement, a major setback to the Biden administration, which had hoped to announce substantial completion this week during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit as a symbol of deeper U.S. economic integration with the region and a counterweight alternative to China.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday the trade pillar negotiations will “require further work”.

The difficulties on trade come as Biden prepares to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in a high-stakes discussion aimed at easing tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.

The meeting with India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the country’s defense minister Rajnath Singh comes amid tensions between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific region.

In broad remarks made after a bilateral meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi in Jakarta, he also called for a “just and lasting peace to Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine” and urged Myanmar’s military to end hostilities and start dialogue.

“We must uphold freedom of navigation in the South and East China seas and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he said, referring to hotspots in which the U.S.-China rivalry and regional tensions play out.

On Thursday, Chinese fighter jets monitored a U.S. Navy patrol plane that flew through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, as China carried out military exercises south of the island, which it claims as one of its provinces.

Blinken held talks that same day with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, part of what the State Department said was a series of interactions aimed at keeping communication channels open and preventing miscalculations.

He denounced Pyongyang’s launch on Wednesday of its latest Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile.

“We need to work together to end North Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction program and ballistic missile launches,” he said.

He also touched on Myanmar’s bloody crisis, saying its ruling military must be pushed to stop violence and implement a peace plan it agreed with its Southeast Asian neighbours two years ago

Hiroshima (AP) — President Joe Biden was seeking to rally regional cooperation against China on the margins of the Group of Seven summit Saturday, while confronting a stalemate in Washington over how to ensure the U.S. avoids default.

Hoping to avert an outcome that would rattle the global economy and prove to be a boon to Beijing, Biden began his third day in Japan at the annual meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies with a briefing by staff on the latest fits and starts in the showdown over how to raise the federal debt limit.

The president on Saturday was also squeezing in meetings aimed at challenging China’s buildout across the Indo-Pacific, including with the so-called Quad partnership made up of the U.S., Australia, Japan and India.

The Quad members originally had been scheduled to meet in Sydney next week, but rescheduled their meeting for the sidelines of the G7 to allow Biden to return to Washington earlier on Sunday in hopes of finalizing a deal to increase the debt ceiling before the U.S. runs out of cash to pay its bills.

The shortened trip has reinforced a fundamental tension shaping Biden’s presidency: As he has tried to signal to the world that the U.S. is reclaiming the mantle of global leadership, at key moments, domestic dramas keep getting in the way.

The president has largely stayed out of the public eye at the summit, forgoing big public statements and leaving Friday’s leader dinner early. He’s been spending time instead by a video monitor in a room next to his hotel suite, where aides in Washington have been keeping him apprised of the back and forth of debt limit talks.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged that world leaders have been pressing Biden about the debt limit standoff in Washington. But press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that while there was intense interest in how the president would resolve a domestic showdown that has geopolitical ramifications, there was no panic — at least not yet.

“It’s not a hair-on-fire type of situation,” she said.

Also on the margins of the summit, Biden met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in lieu of what had been a planned visit to his country later this week for the Quad summit. U.S. officials said the trip would be rescheduled, and Biden has invited Albanese to Washington for a state visit as consolation for change-up.

Biden apologized for skipping the Australia stop but Albanese said he understood the circumstances.

“I would have done exactly the same thing,” he told Biden, adding, “I’m very much looking forward to the state visit.”

The president was also dispatching Secretary of State Antony Blinken to fill his spot at a summit of Pacific Island nations in Papua New Guinea on Monday. That presidential stop, too, was scrapped in order to get Biden back to Washington more quickly.

Biden’s visit would have been the first by an American president to the country. Pacific island nations are being aggressively courted by the U.S. and China as the two superpowers compete for influence in parts of the world where shipping lanes are vital.

In Hiroshima, Biden and other world leaders were set to agree on a shared framework for improving their own economic resilience — a recognition that high levels of trade with China have become more of a risk than an opportunity for mature economies.

Sullivan said that the G7 leaders would acknowledge that “we do seek to cooperate with China on matters of mutual interest. And also that we will work to address our significant concerns that we have with China in a range of areas.” He repeated a phrase often used by G7 leaders that the group is looking to “de-risk, not decouple from China.”