One week into the job, US President Joe Biden has sent a clear warning to Beijing against any expansionist intentions in East and Southeast Asia.
In multiple calls and statements, he and his top security officials have underscored support for allies Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, signaling Washington’s rejection of China’s disputed territorial claims in those areas.
On Wednesday, Biden told Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that his administration is committed to defending Japan, including the Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan and China, where they are known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) .
That stance was echoed by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who told his Japanese counterpart, Nobuo Kishi, on Saturday last week that the contested islands were covered by the US-Japan Security Treaty.
Austin affirmed that the US “remains opposed to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea,” according to a Pentagon statement on the call.
Meanwhile, three days into the Biden administration, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price warned China about menacing Taiwan after it repeatedly sent more than a dozen military fighters and bombers through Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
“We will stand with friends and allies to advance our shared prosperity security and values in the Indo-Pacific region — and that includes deepening our ties with Democratic Taiwan,” Price said in a statement.
“Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid,” he said.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Philippine counterpart that a mutual defense treaty obliging the US to defend the Philippines against attack in the Pacific also applied to the disputed South China Sea — something the administration of former US president Barack Obama did not specify.
Those comments and others sought to emphasize that the new Biden administration would not deviate from the firm security stance toward China that it inherited from former US president Donald Trump.
In his first overseas contacts after taking office, Austin included not only Japan, but also counterparts in Australia, South Korea and India.
Over the past three years, Washington has expanded defense cooperation with India, which sees China posing a military threat both on its northern border and in the seas to the south.
In a call on Wednesday with Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, Austin observed that the two countries’ defense partnership “is built upon shared values and a common interest in ensuring the Indo-Pacific region remains free and open,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
And on a call on Tuesday with Australian Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds, Austin “emphasized the importance of maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, founded on existing international law and norms in a region free of malign behavior,” Kirby said.
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