US and allies’ trade coalition isolates China, ambassador says
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Mr Rahm Emanuel said Washington’s multilateral approach in the Indo-Pacific will likely stay in place regardless of who wins the presidential race.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – A trade coalition between the US and its allies is helping isolate China, according to the US Ambassador to Japan, who added that Washington’s multilateral approach in the Indo-Pacific will likely stay in place regardless of who wins the presidential race.
China has used military aggression and economic coercion to try and put pressure on countries around the world, but the United States has continued to add an economic component to its existing security strategy against China, Mr Rahm Emanuel said.
“You flip the script on them,” he said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Oct 10. “They have a practice of being the isolator, but now they’re getting isolated.”
Mr Emanuel spoke in Tokyo as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with Asian leaders at a regional summit in Laos, amid rising tension with China over territorial and trade matters.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also visiting Laos on his first foreign trip since he became the premier last week.
Other leaders joining the summit include Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
US President Joe Biden has taken an approach of teaming up with like-minded nations in the region to counter an assertive China, Mr Emanuel said.
The aim is to institutionalise those relationships so that achievements under the current administration will stay intact regardless of who wins the US presidential election in November, he added.
When asked about Mr Ishiba’s interest in discussing the concept of an Asian Nato, the ambassador emphasised the progress already made on multinational security and economic partnerships under Mr Biden, particularly the relationship with South Korea and Japan.
The administration has attempted to institutionalise the partnerships, “so it doesn’t just leave with President Biden”, he said. “The trilateral with Korea and Japan and the United States is clearly one of those that’s on a strong footing.”
Mr Emanuel also said that in his view, the proposed acquisition of United States Steel Corp by Nippon Steel Corp was not a political matter.
“The US relationship with Japan is bigger, deeper than one business transaction,” he said. BLOOMBERG
