US Secretary of State Antony Blinken advocated this Tuesday for a “free” Indo-Pacific during a ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).
His words represent a veiled criticism of China, just one day before the expected face to face between the US president, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Before the foreign and trade ministers of the 21 APEC economies, Blinken cited a 2020 statement in which the group defended the need for an “Asia-Pacific community that is open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful.”
“The United States believes in that vision, in a region where economies are free to choose their own path and their own partners, where problems are addressed openly, where agreements are reached transparently and fairly applied, and where goods, “ideas and people flow legally and freely,” Blinken said.
The United States has in the past accused China of using economic pressure to achieve its goals in Asia and has also criticized the way it is managing its territorial disputes with other countries in the resource-rich South China Sea claimed by China. Beijing almost in its entirety.
For its part, China has strongly criticized the US role in the Asia-Pacific, especially Biden’s decision to revitalize military alliances such as the Quad, something that Beijing sees as an attempt to create a kind of NATO in the region. .
Blinken leads the meetings of the foreign and trade ministers of the APEC members this Tuesday and Wednesday. On Sunday and Monday, the finance ministers took part in the ministerial meetings that will lead to the leaders’ summit on Thursday and Friday.
APEC, founded in 1989 with the aim of promoting trade integration, brings together 21 territories in Asia and America bordering the Pacific Ocean: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
Source: Gestion
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