According to an expert of a think tank, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Southeast Asia is significant because it sends a strong signal that Washington wants to strengthen ties with the region at a time of tension. increased tensions with China, according to an expert from a think tank.
Simon Tay, President of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said Blinken’s turnaround in the region this week “must be clearly seen in the context of Sino-US competition.”
“What’s interesting to me is that there is a sort of silver lining for these countries and for ASEAN as a whole, as long as this competition doesn’t lead to actual conflict and Cold War mentality,” he told CNBC. Street Signs Asia.” ”
“It’s a big signal that he’s going to the region and starting with Indonesia,” he added.
This is Blinken’s first visit to Southeast Asia since President Joe Biden took office in January. On his first stop in Indonesia on Tuesday, the top diplomat called on US allies and partners in the region to uphold the rules-based order.
“Let me be clear: the goal of preserving the rules-based order is not to keep any one country. Instead, it is to protect the right of all nations to choose their own path. their own, without coercion and intimidation,” said Blinken, who will also visit Malaysia and Thailand this week.
“It’s not a contest between a US-focused region or a China-centric region – the Indo-Pacific is its own,” he added.
The Secretary of State also criticized China’s aggression in the South China Sea, noting that it threatens more than $3 trillion in annual trade and is a cause for growing concern.
That is why there is so much concern – from Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia and from the Mekong River to the Pacific Islands – about Beijing’s aggressive actions.
China is increasingly provoked by the Biden administration Indo-Pacific Strategy. Part of that priority is building an informal strategic alliance between the United States, Japan, India and Australia, known as the Quadrilateral or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
Ashley Townshend, director of foreign and defense policy at the Center for American Studies at the University of Sydney, stressed that Mr Blinken’s visit was important because the Biden administration was in the early stages of implementing a framework. comprehensive Indo-Pacific economy.
“It really tries to work towards one of the core requirements of the Southeast Asian countries, which is to see the United States invest and invest more substantively in the region,” he said, as well as “strengthen the strive for a more sustainable region. .. it is more resistant to Chinese coercion. “
