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Washington:
US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has pitched for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a strategic area that has witnessed renewed international focus in view of China’s expansionist behaviour.
Addressing the US-ASEAN digital summit on Friday, Mr O’Brien highlighted the great profit the partnership has dropped at the prosperity, safety and well-being of over one billion folks within the United States and ASEAN nations, the White House mentioned in an announcement.
He reaffirmed the US’ longstanding dedication to a free and open Indo-Pacific, it mentioned.
The ASEAN is taken into account some of the influential groupings within the area, and India and a number of other different international locations together with the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue companions.
The digital ASEAN summit, which kicked-off on Thursday, is going down amid China’s aggressive behaviour within the disputed South China Sea. Various ASEAN international locations have territorial disputes with China within the South China Sea.
Beijing claims nearly the entire 1.three million square-mile South China Sea as its territory. China has been constructing navy bases on synthetic islands within the area which, in components, is claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Beijing has impeded industrial exercise like fishing and mineral exploration by neighbouring nations in recent times, saying the possession of the resource-rich maritime territory belongs to China for a whole bunch of years.
The 10 member international locations of ASEAN are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Mr O’Brien, who participated within the Summit as Donald Trump’s Special Envoy, shared a message on behalf of the President welcoming the fifth anniversary of the US-ASEAN Strategic Partnership.
Donald Trump attended the ASEAN summit in 2017, however despatched solely representatives over the last two conferences. A particular summit with the ASEAN that he was purported to host in Las Vegas in March was known as off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr O’Brien can even signify the US at an East Asia digital summit on Saturday.
The East Asia Summit (EAS) is the premier discussion board within the Asia-Pacific area to take care of points relating safety and defence. Since its inception in 2005, it has performed a major function within the strategic, geopolitical and financial evolution of East Asia.
The digital summit on Saturday might be chaired by Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and can see participation from all of the 18 EAS international locations.
Apart from the 10 ASEAN member states, the East Asia Summit consists of India, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Russia.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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