“As we head into 2024, we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with those who share our vision for a free, open, prosperous, and secure world,” declared Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a year-end press conference.
“First, we will continue to rally countries around the world to support Ukraine’s freedom and independence and to ensure that Russia’s aggression remains a strategic failure,” said Secretary Blinken.
“Russia is weaker militarily, economically, diplomatically. NATO is bigger and stronger and more united than at any point in its nearly 75-year history. This year, we added our 31st member of NATO – Finland. And Sweden will join soon, bringing even greater potency and capability to our defensive alliance,” he said.
Another priority for 2024 will be to continue to engage with China from a position of strength, said Secretary Blinken:
“We’re deepening cooperation and coordination between NATO and our Indo-Pacific allies. These efforts have allowed us to engage more effectively when tackling areas of concern, like China’s coercive trade and economic practices, peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas, and human rights.”
Third, the United States is committed to working with others for the good of our people and for people around the world, said Secretary Blinken:
“That’s exactly what we did in 2023, rallying coalitions of governments, businesses, civil society, regional and multilateral institutions to tackle food insecurity; to promote secure, safe, trustworthy AI systems; to fight the synthetic drug crisis; to stop the scourge of governments that arbitrarily detain foreign nationals for leverage; to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars to build physical, digital, clean energy, and health infrastructure across developing countries.”
With regard to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Secretary Blinken said the U.S. will focus on “helping Israel ensure that what happened on October 7th can never happen again, bringing the conflict to an end as quickly as possible while minimizing the loss of life and the suffering of civilians, getting the remaining hostages back home to their families, preventing the conflict from spreading, and once and for all breaking the devastating cycle of violence and moving toward durable, lasting peace.”
The United States looks forward to strengthening its network of alliances and partnerships to meet the challenges of 2024.
