Senior U.S. official on US and Indo-Pacific trade

Описание: (31 Oct 2019) A senior US official says a free and open Indo-Pacific concept is not a move to expand US domination but reflects Washington's "enduring engagement" to prosper the region.
David Stilwell, the State Department's assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, says security is a pillar in the US model of engagement in the region but it isn't a central part and done through partnerships with regional countries.
He was responding to a question at a forum Thursday about China's concern that the US initiative was a military strategy to counter Beijing and Russia.
Stilwell said there has to be a security element because "without security, you can't have trade" and prosperity is impossible.
But he said the US "has never and never will seek domination" in the region.
The United States has been shoring up relations with allies and taking a higher military profile in the region under its Indo-Pacific concept, an all-encompassing vision that seeks to focus on rule of law, freedom of navigation and open markets that Beijing regards as directed against it.
China's smaller neighbors including Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia contest Beijing's claims of ownership of almost all of the strategically important South China Sea.
Beijing has asserted its claim by building seven islands and equipping them with military runways, missile defense systems and outposts.
Stilwell, who is en route to Bangkok for regional summits with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said the grouping should have resisted moves to militarise the South China Sea.

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