Pompeo calls regional unity to counter China’s growing assertiveness
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for regional unity to counter China’s growing assertiveness, as the fierce American presidential election race entered its final stretch.
Pompeo’s call came as he wrapped up a five-nation, anti-China tour of Asia in Vietnam on Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Pompeo visited Vietnam ostensibly to celebrate 25 years of US-Vietnam relations. But, as he has at his previous stops in India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia, Pompeo’s main aim was to shore up support for pushing back on China.
“We have enormous respect for the Vietnamese people and your country’s sovereignty,” Pompeo told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
In brief comments heard by reporters, neither man mentioned China by name, but Pompeo’s use of the word “sovereignty” has become code for referring to opposition to Chinese encroachment, particularly in Asia.
“We look forward to continuing to work together to build on our relationship and to make the region — throughout Southeast Asia, Asia and the Indo-Pacific — safe and peaceful and prosperous,” Pompeo said.
Phuc said he seeks “sincere cooperation” between both sides in support of a peaceful region.
In a statement released ahead of Pompeo’s arrival in Vietnam, the State Department attacked China for reneging on cooperation pledges with other Mekong countries and for aggressively pursuing suspect claims in the South China Sea.
China’s “malign and destabilizing actions in the Mekong region, including manipulation of Mekong River water flows, negatively affect millions of people who depend on the river for their livelihoods,” it said.
“The United States stands with our Indo-Pacific allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources in the South China Sea, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law,” it said.
It noted that earlier this year, Pompeo had rejected outright nearly all of Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea, including those involving Vietnam.
“The United States rejects (China’s) maritime claims to the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam’s coast,” the statement said.
“We will oppose any efforts aimed at undermining the rules-based maritime order in the South China Sea or elsewhere.”
Pompeo had traveled to Indonesia from the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India on stops where he steadily ratcheted up the pressure on Beijing, which has rejected US concerns and accused him and others in the US administration of fanning the flames of a new Cold War.
In the Maldives, Pompeo announced the United States would for the first time open an embassy in the Indian Ocean archipelago.