US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said before a visit to India next week that the administration of US President Donald Trump wants to “dramatically deepen” cooperation with New Delhi, seeing it as a key partner in the face of negative Chinese influence in Asia.
Speaking less than a month before Trump is due to make his first state visit to China, Tillerson said the US had begun to discuss creating alternatives to Chinese infrastructure financing in Asia.
In another comment likely to upset Beijing, he said Washington saw room to invite others, including Australia, to join US-India-Japan security cooperation, something Beijing has called an attempt by democracies to gang up on it.
Photo: AP
The remarks coincided with the start of a the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is seeking to further consolidate his power.
“The United States seeks constructive relations with China, but we will not shrink from China’s challenges to the rules-based order, and where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries and disadvantages the US and our friends,” Tillerson told the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “India and the United States should be in the business of equipping other countries to defend their sovereignty, build greater connectivity, and have a louder voice in a regional architecture that promotes their interests and develops their economies.”
The US decision to expand relations with India will almost certainly upset India’s rival, Pakistan, where Tillerson is also visiting next week, said a senior US Department of State official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan was the main US ally in South Asia for decades, but US officials are frustrated with what they charge has been Pakistan’s failure to cut support for the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, where the administration wants India to play a bigger role in economic development.
As part of a South Asia strategy unveiled by Trump in August, Tillerson is expected to press Islamabad, which denies aiding the Taliban, to take stronger steps against extremists and allied groups, and intensify efforts to pressure them to agree to peace talks with Kabul.
“We expect Pakistan to take decisive action against terrorist groups based there that threaten its own people and the broader region,” Tillerson said.
Trump has threatened further cuts in US aid to Pakistan if it fails to cooperate.
A senior US Department of State official defended the timing of the speech, saying Tillerson also said he wanted a constructive relationship with China.
“For many decades the United States has supported China’s rise,” the official said. “We’ve also supported India’s rise, but those two countries have risen very differently.”
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said China hoped the US could abandon bias when viewing its actions overseas.
“China will never develop itself at the expense of other countries,” Lu told a regular briefing yesterday. “At the same time, we will never give up our justly deserved rights and interests.”
Healthy relations between China and the US are good for the people of both nations and are expected by the Asia-Pacific region, he added.
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