If you were unaware of the US foreign affairs, our Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently on an official foreign tour to Southeast Asia. While speaking at a university in Indonesia, Blinken emphasized how smaller countries need to resist China’s “aggressive actions” to assert dominance in the region.
Indonesia is just the first leg of the Southeast Asia trip and Antony Blinken has already left fiery comments regarding America’s archrival, cementing the tension between the countries, once again.
“Claiming open seas as their own. Distorting open markets through subsidies to its state-run companies. Denying the exports or revoking deals for countries whose policies it does not agree with. Countries across the region want this behavior to change – we do too.” said Antony Blinken in his address at the university. He implicated China as a “threat to freedom of movement in the South China Sea,” adding that the Biden admin would work with any ally or partner to defend the “rules-based order.”
The Biden admin’s strategy to collect allies seems different from the Trump era as Blinken took a much more diplomatic tone to the matter instead of a coercive or threatening stance. He said, “Individual countries will be able to choose their own path and their own partners.” This highlighted how the Biden administration is ensuing its own strategy to further diplomatic ties with countries that are willing to be of aid for a mutual benefit.
Another interesting development during the visit was the Russian aide Nikolai Patrushev’s plane landing alongside Antony Blinken. With questions regarding matters with Moscow, Blinken said, “I noticed his plane on the runway next to ours when we landed. I can’t or won’t speak to why anyone else might be here or what they’re doing.”
Adding, “We have a senior State Department official, Karen Donfried, who is now in Ukraine consulting with our Ukrainian partners. She’ll be going on to Moscow . . . to test,” regarding why he missed the diplomatic opportunity between Washington and Moscow, that would have helped in addressing a major crisis for the Biden administration.
