(Jakarta) US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on China in Jakarta to stop its “aggressive acts” in the Indo-Pacific region, during its first tour of Southeast Asia.
“We are determined to guarantee freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where Beijing’s aggressive acts threaten trade worth more than $ 3 trillion every year,” he said in a speech to the University of Indonesia.
He also reaffirmed Washington’s attachment to “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, more than ever at the heart of extreme tensions between the two largest world economies.
The Secretary of State, insisting on his desire to strengthen alliances with states in the region, pledged to “protect the right of all countries to choose their own path, free from any pressure or intimidation”.
“This is not a competition between an American-centered or Sino-centered region,” he pleaded.
“There is a lot of concern, from North East Asia to South East Asia, and from the Mekong River to the Pacific Islands, about Beijing’s aggressive acts,” he said.
He accused China of “claiming open seas as its own territory”, of “distorting open markets through subsidies to its state-owned enterprises”, or even of “refusing exports or repealing agreements with countries it contests. policies “.
“The countries of the region want this behavior to change. We too, ”he insisted.
The region is seeing rising tensions in the South China Sea as Beijing claims almost all of this key trade area, also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.