The Donald Trump era had upset relations in Southeast Asia, making the region turn turbulent and unpredictable, while President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to reset US relationships with countries in the same region and keeping this agenda in mind US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the Asian region.
Blinken’s region had started in Indonesia, which was the start of his South Asian Tour; his visit to the region is a first by any senior United States official in recent months, Blinken while addressing a meet in Indonesia on Tuesday, has urged China to immediately put a stop to all its “aggressive actions” in the Indo-Pacific region, Blinken’s comment has come up. At the same time, Washington seeks to bolster alliances of different countries against Beijing.
Blinken has further added that Washington would be working closely with all allies and partners to defend the Indo-Pacific region as all countries have a right to choose their own path while maintaining a rules-based order.
Beijing’s aggressive actions are affecting regions from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia and the Mekong River to the Pacific Islands.
China has been claiming all the regions following under the open seas as their own, Beijing is denying exports and revoking the deals already accepted for countries whose policies do not match the further plans of Chinam, Blinken further stated that a number of countries in the south Asian region and the United States wants and advises to change its aggressive behaviour.
During his speech at the University of Indonesia, Secretary Blinken stressed that the US was not contesting for any region which is US-centric or China-centric but stated that Indo-Pacific is a region in its own right. He assured that the US was determined to ensure that the South China Sea was free for navigation of vessels belonging to any nation.
China has claimed all their resource-rich region of the South China Sea, for which at least four South-East Asian countries, including Taiwan placing claims on.
China, after ignoring the 2016 International Tribunal decision that had refuted China’s historical claim over the region and has deployed military hardware, including anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles in the region of the South China sea.
China has vowed to retake Taiwan, which is a democratic self-ruled country, by force if necessary has introduced tensions in US-China relationships. Beijing’s action, according to Secretary Blinken, is threatening the movements of almost $ 3 trillion worth of international trade carried out in the South China sea.