(Prensa Latina) The United States will expand its military and economic relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region supposedly to counter China, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said here on Tuesday.
We will adopt a strategy that interweaves all of our instruments of national power – diplomacy, military, intelligence more closely – with those of our allies and partners, he said.
During a speech in Indonesia, the US official said he would maintain the US military presence in the area.
Blinken insisted that the United States is not trying to force countries to choose between the United States and China or seeking a conflict with China, but complained about alleged “aggressive actions by Beijing”.
In this regard, he noted that his country will “forge stronger connections” with its five allies in the region (Australia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand), boost ties among them and a stronger bond with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Blinken is in Indonesia on the first stopover of a week-long tour of three countries in Southeast Asia that will also take him to Malaysia and Thailand.
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