Antony Blinken blasts China, seeks to rally US allies in Asia

Bloomberg

Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticised China’s “aggressive actions” in Asia while laying out plans to more closely integrate US allies and security partners in Asia.
During a key policy speech in Jakarta, Blinken underscored US efforts to deliver high-quality infrastructure and vaccines to the region while working closer on security issues. He said the Biden administration doesn’t want conflict in Asia, and would ensure competition with China doesn’t veer into a “catastrophic” conflict.
“We’ll adopt a strategy that more closely weaves together all our instruments of national power — diplomacy, military, intelligence — with those of our allies and partners,” Blinken said on the first stop of a three-nation tour of the region. He reeled off a list of concerns about China, including “claiming open seas their own” and hitting countries that stand up to it with trade restrictions.
“The goal of defending the rules-based order is not to keep any country down,” Blinken said. “Rather, it’s to protect the right of all countries to choose their own path, free from coercion and intimidation.”
Blinken is seeking to rebuild relationships that frayed during President Donald Trump’s term with governments that aren’t part of the Biden administration’s Quad partnership with Australia, India and Japan. Still, Blinken had little to say on the issue of trade, where regional leaders have pushed for the US to offer something just as substantive as the 11-nation deal Trump exited in 2017.
The top US diplomat reiterated that the administration is still developing an Indo-Pacific strategy that will focus on trade, the digital economy, technology, supply chains, clean energy and other areas. He noted the Quad nations provided more than $48 billion in government-backed financing, part of efforts to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
China hit back at his comments, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin saying a regular press briefing in Beijing that Washington should respect the ways the region maintains peace, especially through Asean, “instead of drawing ideological lines, putting together small cliques and inciting bloc confrontation.”
“We hope the US will truly follow through on the spirit of the summit between the two heads of state and pursue win-win results and peaceful coexistence rather than talking one thing and acting another,” he added, referring to a video conference the leaders of the two nations held last month.