Blinken takes aim at China's 'aggressive actions', says US protecting all countries' rights in Indonesia speech
China's "aggressive actions" in the Indo-Pacific have worried governments across the region, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Indonesia on Tuesday, as he denied that Washington was trying to "keep any country down".
The United States' top diplomat said his government's overarching concern was upholding rights and agreements that would ensure the region, and the world, stayed "peaceful and prosperous".
"The goal of defending the rules-based order is not to keep any country down. Rather, it's to protect the right of all countries to choose their own path. Free from coercion, free from intimidation. It's not about a contest between a US-centric region or a China-centric region. The Indo-Pacific is its own region," Blinken said in a speech at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta.
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"That's why there's so much concern from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia, and from the Mekong River to the Pacific Islands, about Beijing's aggressive actions. Claiming open seas as their own. Distorting open markets through subsidies to its state-run companies. Denying exports, revoking deals for countries whose policies it does not agree with. Engaging in illegal unreported and unregulated fishing activities. Countries across the region want this behaviour to change. We do too."
The US will "continue to push back against such behaviour", Blinken said - especially in the South China Sea, where he said it "threatened the movement of more than US$3 trillion worth of commerce every year".
"It's also why we have an abiding interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, consistent with our long-standing commitments," he said.
Reiterating remarks made by US President Joe Biden to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping last month, Blinken said "we share a profound responsibility to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict".
Washington wants to draw its regional allies and partners closer into its "unmatched system of alliances" by developing a strategy that "more closely weaves together all our instruments of national power, diplomacy, military intelligence", Blinken said - pointing to "evolving" threats such as extremism, illegal fishing and human trafficking.
"That's why we seek serious and sustained diplomacy with the DPRK. With the ultimate goal of denuclearising the Korean peninsula, we'll work with allies and partners to address the threat posed by the DPRK's nuclear and missile programmes through a calibrated practical approach, while also strengthening our extended deterrence," Blinken said, using the abbreviated version of North Korea's official name.
The US will also "forge stronger connections" with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand, he said, adding that the trilateral Aukus pact Washington recently signed with Canberra and London marked a "historic, new security cooperation agreement".
Economic ties with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would be enhanced, Blinken said - reaffirming a pledge made by Biden - as many countries in the region "feel pressure" to take bad infrastructure deals.
"We're hearing increasing concerns from government officials, industry, and labour communities in the Indo-Pacific about what happens when infrastructure isn't done right, like when it's awarded through opaque corrupt processes, or built by overseas companies that import their own labour, extract resources, pollute the environment, and drive communities into debt," he said.
Washington is developing a "comprehensive Indo-Pacific Economic Framework", Blinken said, to boost its investments in the digital economy, technology, resilient supply chains, decarbonisation and clean energy infrastructure, among other areas.
Reaffirming Washington's support for Asean centrality and independence, Blinken said the Biden administration would continue to push for Myanmar's junta "to cease its indiscriminate violence, release all those unjustly detained, allow unhindered access" and restore the country on the "path to inclusive democracy" following February's coup.
The US will also work to further promote democracy in the region by "defending an open, interoperable, secure and reliable internet against those who are actively working to make the internet more closed," he said.
Also on Tuesday, Blinken and his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi renewed a memorandum of understanding on maritime cooperation - covering security, resource management and fisheries conservation - which will be extended until 2026. Both sides also agreed to expand ministerial-level meetings on defence and foreign affairs.
The US invested US$1.3 billion in Indonesia between January and September this year, Retno told a joint news briefing with Blinken on Tuesday - a 73 per cent increase from the same period last year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's national security chief Nikolai Patrushev was also in Indonesia on Tuesday - a sign of the country's non-aligned stance and independent foreign policy, according to analysts.
Blinken was in Indonesia as part of a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia. He is set to visit Malaysia and Thailand next.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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