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Blinken touts deeper US engagement amid concern over 'aggressive' China

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Humeyra Pamuk, Reuters

<h3>Says Indo-Pacific must be free from coercion, intimidation</h3><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a press conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia December 14, 2021. Olivier Douliery/Pool via Reuters" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/overseas/12/14/2021-12-14t082213z_542353445_rc28er9rjmmu_rtrmadp_3_southeastasia-usa-indonesia.jpg"/><figcaption>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a press conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia December 14, 2021. Olivier Douliery/Pool via Reuters</figcaption></figure></div><p>JAKARTA— Secretary of State Antony Blinken touted on Tuesday a US strategy to deepen its Asian treaty alliances, offering to boost defense and intelligence work with partners in an Indo-Pacific region increasingly concerned over China&#x27;s &quot;aggressive actions.&quot;</p><p>On a visit to Indonesia, Blinken called the Indo-Pacific the world&#x27;s most dynamic region, where everyone had a stake in ensuring a status quo that was without coercion and intimidation, making a barely veiled reference to China.</p><p>He said the United States, its allies and some South China Sea claimants would push back against any unlawful action.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;ll work with our allies and partners to defend the rules-based order that we&#x27;ve built together over decades to ensure the region remains open and accessible,&quot; Blinken said in a speech at a university.</p><p>&quot;Let me be clear: the goal of defending the rules-based order is not to keep any country down. Rather, it&#x27;s to protect the right of all countries to choose their own path, free from coercion and intimidation.&quot;</p><p>China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite some overlapping claims with other coastal states and a ruling by an international tribunal that its vast claim had no legal basis.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/14/21/locsin-south-china-sea-coc-talks-went-nowhere">PH&#x27;s top diplomat: South China Sea code of conduct negotiations &#x27;went nowhere&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>Beijing has rejected the US stance as interference from an outside power that could threaten Asia&#x27;s stability.</p><p>In response to Blinken&#x27;s remarks, China&#x27;s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a daily briefing in the Chinese capital that the United States should promote cooperation in the region, instead of &quot;drawing ideological lines.&quot;</p><p>Blinken is making his first visit to Southeast Asia since President Joe Biden took office in January, a trip aimed at shoring up relations after a period of uncertainty about US commitment to Asia under the administration of Donald Trump.</p><div><strong>&#x27;A BETTER KIND OF INFRASTRUCTURE&#x27;</strong></div><p>Despite tension in the South China Sea, Beijing&#x27;s influence has grown in recent years as it pushes more infrastructure investment and integrated trade ties in the Asia-Pacific, in the perceived absence of a US economic strategy for the region.</p><p>Blinken said the United States would strengthen ties with treaty allies such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines and boost defense and intelligence capabilities with Indo-Pacific partners, as well as defending an open and secure internet.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/19/21/us-warns-china-on-action-against-philippines">US warns China on action against Philippines</a></li></ul><p>He stressed, however, that it was not a contest between a US-centric or China-centric region.</p><p>He also said Washington was committed to pressing the military junta in Myanmar to end violence, free detainees and return to an inclusive democracy.</p><p>The United States was also committed to a new comprehensive regional economic framework, which would include more US foreign direct investment and US companies identifying new opportunities in the region, he said, without providing details.</p><p>The administration has yet to spell out what exactly Biden&#x27;s envisaged economic framework will entail. In 2017, the Trump administration walked away from a US-inspired multinational Pacific trade deal.</p><p>Blinken, who will also visit Malaysia and Thailand this week, said the United States would work to strengthen supply chains and close the region&#x27;s infrastructure gaps, from ports and roads to power grids and the internet.</p><p>In another swipe at China, he said the United States was hearing increasing concerns in the Indo-Pacific about opaque, corrupt processes of foreign companies that imported their own labor, drained natural resources and polluted the environment.</p><p>&quot;Countries in the Indo-Pacific want a better kind of infrastructure,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;But many feel it&#x27;s too expensive – or they feel pressured to take bad deals on terms set by others, rather than no deals at all.&quot;</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4W6wdjJT9wQ?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Blinken said the United States would strengthen ties with treaty allies such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

Blinken touts deeper US engagement amid concern over 'aggressive' China

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Blinken touts deeper US engagement amid concern over 'aggressive' China

Humeyra Pamuk,

Reuters

Published Dec 14, 2021 05:27 PM PHT

Read More:

US

China

Indo-Pacific region

Asian treaty alliances

Antony Blinken

South China Sea

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

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