US looks to reassure allies as concerns grow about America’s global role
SYDNEY: Senior US officials said on Monday the US, under President Donald Trump, was committed to the region, reassuring nervous global partners even as it received criticism for pulling out of major a climate pact.
Global leaders have said there was growing mistrust of the Trump administration, especially because of his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on trade and from the Paris climate accord.
Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and expectations that he would concentrate on a domestic agenda has stoked fears of a retreat from a traditional US security role that has underpinned the region for decades.
But US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Trump administration should be judged for its actions and not words.
“I hope the fact that we are here demonstrates that is certainly not this administration’s view or intention to somehow put at arm’s length the other important allies and partners in the world,” Tillerson told reporters in Sydney.
“That’s why we’re here ... That’s why we engage with our counterparts,” Tillerson said. He is in Sydney for an annual conference along with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford and the head of Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the nature of the bilateral relationship extends beyond the superficial.
While Australia’s government said it has not lost faith in the US as a global leader, the decision to leave the Paris Climate agreement has drawn a wave of global criticism.
Speaking for the first time on the decision, Tillerson appeared to distance himself from it, saying that it was Trump’s “judgment” that the climate pact did not serve the American people.
Although reiterating US commitment to Asia, Tillerson said China should do more on the issue of North Korea, which has stepped up its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of US pressure and UN resolutions. North Korea has become a security priority for Washington since it vowed to accelerate its nuclear and missile programs
Tillerson also said the US could not allow China to use its economic power to “buy its way out of other problems, whether it’s militarizing islands in the South China Sea or failing to put appropriate pressure on North Korea.”