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December 17, 2013

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Kerry has China in sights as he gives US$32.5m to SE Asia

Source: Agencies | December 17, 2013, Tuesday | Print Edition

Taking clear aim at China, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced yesterday that the United States will boost maritime security assistance to the countries of Southeast Asia amid “rising tensions” with Beijing.

On his first visit to Vietnam as America’s top diplomat, Kerry pledged an additional US$32.5 million for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to protect their “territorial waters and navigational freedom” in the South China Sea, where four states have competing claims with China.

Included in the new aid is up to US$18 million for Vietnam alone that will include five fast patrol-boats for its coast guard.

With the new contribution, US maritime security assistance to the region will exceed US$156 million over the next two years, he said.

Kerry said the new assistance was not a “quickly conceived reaction to any events in the region” but rather a “gradual and deliberate expansion” of US support as part of the Obama administration’s broader decision to refocus attention on the Asia-Pacific region.

China announced in late November that it was establishing an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea where all aircraft entering must notify Chinese authorities beforehand, and that unspecified defensive measures would be taken against those that don’t comply.

Neighboring countries and the US have said they will not honor the new zone.

“Peace and stability in the South China Sea is a top priority for us and for countries in the region,” Kerry told reporters at a news conference with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. “We are very concerned by and strongly opposed to coercive and aggressive tactics to advance territorial claims.”

Kerry had harsh words for China’s new air defense zone, saying that it “clearly increases the risk of a dangerous miscalculation or an accident” that could lead to possible conflict between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.

The US is “very concerned about recent actions that have increased tensions between China and Japan and we call for intensified negotiations and diplomatic initiatives,” he said.

“The zone should not be implemented, and China should refrain from taking similar unilateral actions elsewhere, particularly in the South China Sea,” Kerry said, reiterating that such moves by the Chinese government would not affect US military operations in the region.

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