Blinken and envoys from Japan, Australia and India work to improve maritime safety in Asia-Pacific

TOKYO (AP) — Top diplomats from Japan, the U.S., Australia and India meeting Monday in Tokyo compiled a set of measures to reinforce maritime safety and cybersecurity and to support other Asia-Pacific countries in improving their defenses during growing tensions in the regional seas.

After the meeting, host Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmayam Jaishankar said they were “seriously concerned” about the tensions and expressed “strong opposition” to unilateral changes to the status quo by coercion.

They noted “the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea” as examples, but carefully avoided identifying China in their joint statement.

Several regional governments dispute China's sweeping territorial claims over the South China Sea, which has crucial maritime trade routes and potential energy reserves. It also claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.

At what are known as the Quad talks, the four ministers agreed on a number of initiatives to counter cyberattacks, ensure maritime security and deal with disinformation. They also announced expanded support for other countries, including in Southeast Asia and Pacific islands, to bolster their abilities in those areas as the Quad seek to expand its partnerships.

The ministers plan to launch a maritime legal dialogue to focus on the international law of the sea. They said they were determined to contribute to maintaining and developing free-and-open maritime order consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans and to enhance cooperation and coordination on it.

Their initiatives included support for installing a secure telecommunications network in Palau and building cybersecurity capacity in the Philippines and India, according to the joint statement. The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to improving the region’s connectivity through the development of resilient infrastructure such as undersea cables.

“We are committed to putting our collective resources, our collective strength to work to benefit people across the region that we share,” Blinken told a joint news conference after the talks. “We continue to work with partners to ensure that freedom of navigation, overflight, the unimpeded flow of lawful maritime commerce that these continue to go forward. They are critical to the region’s security. They’re critical to its ongoing prosperity.”

Kamikawa said maritime security in the region is increasingly unstable, so unity and cooperation were needed more than ever among the Quad countries in securing a rules-based free and open international order.

Without naming China, Kamikawa said escalating tensions in “a certain region” and cyberattacks by “a certain country” could easily spill to other countries and increase their risks.

“In order to have the prosperity in the region, we must ensure stability of the foundation in maritime, cyber and space domains,” she said. “We Quad nations aim to protect the foundations of prosperity in the Indo-Pacific as we seek to achieve an international community of coexistence and coprosperity.”

Australia’s Wong said the Quad nations were working to achieve a region that is governed by “accepted rules and norms where all of us can cooperate, can trade and thrive” and where “sovereignty is respected and competition is managed responsibly.”

The talks came after Japan and the United States held their “2+2” security meeting Sunday, when they called China “the greatest strategic challenge.” They agreed on further deepening military cooperation by making major upgrades to their command structures and bolstering Japanese production and repair of U.S.- licensed weapons.

Associted Press writer Matthew Lee in Singapore contributed to this report.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference after the Quad Ministerial Meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, second left, speaks as Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, far left, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listen during the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, speaks during a news conference with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, from left, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, following the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, from left, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken leave a news conference following the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar speaks during a news conference after the Quad Ministerial Meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during a news conference after the Quad Ministerial Meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa speaks during a news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar after the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, left, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, second left, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second right, arrive for the Quad Ministerial Meeting, at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, center left, presides the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, right, attends the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, center, attends the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Foreign minister from front to back, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrive for the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, center, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, second left, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, third right, and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, bottom center, attend the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Foreign minister from left to right, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a photo ahead of the Quad Ministerial Meeting at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has fled into exile after being granted asylum in Spain, delivering a major blow to millions who placed their hopes in his upstart campaign to end two decades of single-party rule.

The surprise departure of the man considered by Venezuela’s opposition and several foreign governments to be the legitimate winner of July’s presidential race was announced late Saturday night by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. He is expected to arrive in Spain on Sunday.

She said the government decided to grant González safe passage out of the country, just days after ordering his arrest, to help restore “the country’s political peace and tranquility.”

Neither González nor opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has commented. But Spain’s center-left government said the decision to leave Venezuela was González's alone and he departed on a plane sent by the country's air force. González had stayed at the Spanish embassy in Caracas before leaving.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish national broadcaster RTVE that his government will grant González political asylum as he has requested. Albares spoke from Oman while en route to China with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on a state visit.

“I have been able to speak to (González) and once he was aboard the airplane he expressed his gratitude toward the Spanish government and Spain,” Albares said. “Of course, I told him we were pleased that he is well and on his way to Spain, and I reiterated the commitment of our government to the political rights of all Venezuelans.”

Sánchez said in a speech before González's departure was announced that the opposition leader was “a hero whom Spain is not going to abandon.”

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, in a statement Sunday described it as "a sad day for democracy in Venezuela,” and also disclosed that the Dutch had been involved in helping González.

“Faced with repression, political persecution and direct threats to his safety and freedom, after being given hospitality at the residence of the Netherlands in Caracas until Sept. 5, political leader and presidential candidate Edmundo González has had to request political asylum and accept the protection offered by Spain,” he said.

Borrell added that González “appears to be the winner of the presidential elections” and that the EU will maintain its support of the Venezuelan people “in their democratic aspirations.”

In a letter sent Sunday to lawmakers, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp said that the Netherlands had given González refuge shortly after the election at its embassy. He added that González said at the beginning of September that he wanted to leave the country “and continue his fight from Spain.”

González, a 75-year-old former diplomat, was a last-minute stand-in when Machado was banned from running. Previously unknown to most Venezuelans, his campaign nonetheless rapidly ignited the hopes of millions of Venezuelans desperate for change after a decade-long economic freefall.

While President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of the July vote, most Western governments, including Spain, have yet to recognize his victory and are instead demanding that authorities publish a breakdown of votes. Meanwhile, tally sheets collected by opposition volunteers from over two-thirds of the electronic voting machines indicate that González won by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The tally sheets have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. In previous presidential elections, the National Electoral Council published online the results of each of the more than 30,000 voting machines but the Maduro-controlled panel did not release any data this time, blaming an alleged cyberattack mounted by its opponents from North Macedonia.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a staunch Maduro ally, sought González's arrest after he failed to appear three times in connection with a criminal investigation into what it considers an act of electoral sabotage.

Saab told reporters that the voting records the opposition shared online were forged and an attempt to undermine the National Electoral Council.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. In a statement critical of the election, the U.N. experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory, but they said the voting records it published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

Exiled opposition politician Franco Casella told RTVE that González would continue to campaign against the regime from abroad in what he called a dual leadership role with Machado, who Casella said remains in hiding in Venezuela.

He said he understood that some people who opposed Maduro might feel “orphaned” by González's departure but, he said, "this is going to be capitalized positively .... and my message is that this is not the time for tears, it is time for us to remain united against the dictatorship.”

Spain has been a major point of exodus for Venezuelans, particularly those leading opposition to Maduro’s regime. They include Leopoldo López, who fled to Spain to reunite with his family in 2020, and Antonio Ledezma, who left in 2017.

Some 44,000 Venezuelans immigrated to Spain in the first six months of this year. The last government statistics from 2022 said that some 212,000 Venezuelans were then residing in Spain.

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Goodman reported from Miami and Wilson from Barcelona, Spain. Mike Corder contributed from The Hague.

FILE - Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves to supporters during a political event at a square in the Hatillo municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)