Pompeo: U.S. is not asking nations to take sides
BANGKOK — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that Washington isn’t asking any Asian nation to take sides as it engages with the region where China is battling for influence and aggressively expanding territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Pompeo hailed an IndoPacific engagement framework adopted by the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in June, saying it supports sovereignty, transparency, good governance and a rulesbased order among other things.
The U.S.China rivalry fueled by their trade disputes has put the 10member ASEAN bloc in a tight spot and the new framework is aimed at finding a middle ground to keep on the good side of both Washington and Beijing.
“Look, we don’t ever ask any IndoPacific nations to choose between countries. Our engagement in this region has not been and will not be a zero sum exercise. Our interests simply naturally converge with yours to our mutual benefit,” Pompeo said in a speech at an annual meeting with his ASEAN counterparts.
U.S. relations with ASEAN are guided by a shared commitment to the fundamental rules of law, human rights and sustainable economic growth, he added.
Beijing has been attempting to project its influence globally through its “Belt and Road” initiative, an ambitious development program of major infrastructure projects. Washington, meanwhile, has been promoting what it calls a Free and Open IndoPacific, an allencompassing vision that focuses on areas such as rule of law, freedom of navigation and open markets that Beijing regards as directed against it.
Despite Pompeo’s comments in Bangkok, he and other Trump administration officials have for months been raising the alarm about the dangers of countries allowing significant Russian and Chinese investment in their technology and infrastructure sectors.
Pompeo’s comments Thursday came a day after China warned against any attempt to sow discord between Beijing and ASEAN countries by playing up disputes over the South China Sea.
China’s assertive territorial claims in the South China Sea, through which a third of global shipping passes, has drawn rebuke from the United States and become a flash point for a region in which ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have claims to the waters.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi later Thursday said Beijing will not let anyone block its right to development.