US President Joe Biden vows to stand with Asia on freedom, hits out at China on Taiwan

Biden reiterated that the United States had a "rock-solid" commitment to Taiwan. "We are deeply concerned by China`s coercive ... actions," Biden said, charging that they "threaten regional peace and stability."

Washington: President Joe Biden told Southeast Asian nations on Wednesday (October 27, 2021) the United States would stand with them in defending freedom of the seas and democracy and called China`s actions towards Taiwan "coercive" and a threat to peace and stability.

Speaking at a virtual East Asia Summit attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Biden said Washington would start talks with partners in the Indo-Pacific about developing a regional economic framework, something critics say his regional strategy has lacked.

Southeast Asia has become a strategic battleground between the United States and China, which controls most of the South China Sea, and Beijing has turned up military and political pressure on fiercely democratic Taiwan, a self-ruled island Beijing considers its own.