U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Biden Administration's Priorities for U.S. Foreign Policy on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 10, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday will embark on his tour to the Asia-Pacific region for the Quad meeting in an attempt to push back against China's expanding influence. However, experts on Sunday said huge uncertainties linger for reaching any consensus with real meaning among Asian countries, and that forming the Quad into a more integrated or stronger alliance is impossible.

Experts believe Blinken's tour amid a mounting crisis over Ukraine implies the US still places going against China as its top priority. However, the US's scheme to promote economy-related affairs within the security mechanism to target China may not allure Quad members due to doubts toward the US. Other than pointing fingers at China's internal affairs, any consensus with real meaning is not expected to be reached, experts predicted. 

During his tour next week, Blinken is scheduled to have talks with Indo-Pacific allies, including a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation Quad, according to the US State Department. 

The Quad meeting, with members the US, Japan, India and Australia, will be held in Australia. Blinken is scheduled to depart Washington on Monday, and stay in Australia from February 9 to 12 for the Quad meeting. Later, he will visit Fiji before heading to Hawaii to meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korea issue.

Blinken still decided to visit Asia in spite of the severe situation in Ukraine implies that the focal point of US strategy targeting China remain unchanged, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

One of the top items for the Quad meeting is whether the US will promote agendas like the economy within the Quad mechanism as the Biden administration said last year the US deeply believes every agenda could be taken to launch competition with China, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

However, there are many uncertainties over whether the assumption from the US can be realized as it has wished, and whether the US can consolidate the quadripartite security dialogue mechanism and run it effectively, Li said. 

No matter what the Biden administration does, odds are great that the policy would be changed significantly if Biden's Democrats lose the midterm elections in November and if the 2024 presidential election brings in a new Republican administration which advocates economic protectionism, Li explained. Such uncertainty is clear to all other Quad members, thus the US's plan of adopting economy-related affairs within the security mechanism to target China may not reach consensus, Li noted.

Xin predicted it is likely the Quad will release statements on China's internal affairs, including South China Sea and the Taiwan question as it usually does after a meeting, but the group moving forward to an integration and stronger alliance is impossible.

Xin explained that China constitutes no threat to the countries within the Quad, even as China is continuing to add impetus to its economy, thus, it is unlikely that Japan, India or Australia will opt to become the spearhead of the US to entirely go against China.

Blinken's visit to Asia comes amid the mounting crisis over Ukraine. "We can tell from Blinken's trip that the US is clear the Ukraine crisis is not as dire as US media has been hyping, which has hyped the lie that 'Russia invaded Ukraine.' Meddling in Ukraine issues is more like leverage for the US to gain influence in Europe," Xin said. He noted that for the US, a chaotic Ukraine will benefit itself to rope in European allies and at the same time pressure Russia.