This comes just after President Joe Biden met with the leaders of India, Australia and Japan in a virtual summit on Friday in his first multilateral summit at leadership level as president.
“And China is using coercion and aggression to systematically erode autonomy in Hong Kong, undermine democracy in Taiwan, abuse human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and assert sea celebrations in the South China Sea that violate international law,” he added. “We will push back if necessary when China uses coercion or aggression to get its way.”
In a conversation with reporters, Austin said that China has spent the past two decades modernizing its military, while the US has focused on the Middle East. “So our goal is to make sure we maintain a competitive advantage over China, or anyone else who wants to threaten us or our alliance,” he said. “And that we have developed the operational plans and capabilities to deter any attacker.”
The strategic environment of the Indo-Pacific has changed over the past few years, said Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in military capacity as well as in the balance of power.
“(The) free and open international order is strongly challenged by efforts to change the status quo through violence and progress of authoritarian system,” Motegi said.
He said Washington and Tokyo “agree that China’s actions, which are not in line with the existing international order, raise various issues against the alliance between Japan and the US and the international community.”
Motegi said the US and Japan were “opposed to efforts to resist the status quo in the region, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and that they have serious concerns about China’s Coast Guard law. has, “referring to a Chinese law enacted in February that allows the Coast Guard to shoot at foreign vessels entering the controversial South China Sea waters.
Motegi also said that the US reaffirmed its commitment to help defend Japan, the Senkakus, a series of disputed islands in the East China Sea, which China calls the Diayous.
Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that the US-Japan exchange should help increase mutual understanding and trust between countries in the region and “not target the interests of any third party or to undermine. “
Myanmar and North Korea on the agenda
Blinken and Motegi “condemned the coup and the use of force in Burma, expressed concern about the expansion of authoritarian and aggressive action by the People’s Republic of China, and agreed to strengthen like-minded coordination on these issues,” according to the U.S. Department of State. foreign affairs statement.
During the talks, Blinken also emphasized the ‘powerful and vital’ economic relationship between the two countries.
“It is no coincidence that we have chosen Japan for the first trip by the Biden-Harris government in the cabinet,” he said. “Japan and the United States work closely together on the key issues of our time, the issues that affect the lives of our citizens – whether it is combating climate change, dealing with cyber security, dealing with global health security.”
The two countries have reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of North Korea and to create opportunities for further trilateral cooperation between the US, Japan and South Korea, according to a statement from the US State Department.
Biden’s government has tried to reach out to North Korea through various channels, but Pyongyang has so far not responded, Blinken said. Austin added that unbundling the Korean Peninsula remains a top priority, and that alliances with South Korea and Japan are the key tools the US has to combat the threat to North Korea.
Other issues on the agenda on Tuesday included the supply chain between America and Japan, clean energy, economic recovery after Covid-19 and how to prevent further pandemics. They reiterate their commitment to carbon dioxide, the expansion of clean energy technologies and the achievement of greenhouse gas emissions by 20