US Seen Bolstering Military Links in Southeast Asia to Counter China
Voice of America
TAIPEI - U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is looking for ways to align multiple Asian countries behind the containment of rival superpower China, analysts said this week following Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to the region.
Austin advocated during a speech Tuesday in Singapore for a reduction of China's military activity in Southeast Asia through "integrated deterrence." Austin also traveled to the Philippines and Vietnam during the weeklong trip. Integrated deterrence means using “every military and non-military tool in lock-step with allies and partners,” the U.S. Defense Department says on its website, citing space and cyberspace as two newer tools. Experts say Austin selected Vietnam and the Philippines because both have sparred with China during the past decade over contested sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. The U.S. contends China’s claims to own much of the sea have “no basis in international law.”This photo provided by the Prefecture Maritime du Nord et de la Manche shows migrants continuing their journey to Britain off the northern coast of France, April 23, 2024. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at a press conference at Downing Street in London, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks.
Women in rural Malawi pick vegetables in Chikwawa district. Statistics show that more than 20% of Malawi's 19.6 million people live in extreme poverty. With 20% of people in Malawi living in extreme poverty, UNICEF says parents and caregivers in rural areas need assistance to care for their children. These children are pictured in Malawi's Chikwawa district.
FILE - Visitors walk past a model of India's Brahmos supersonic cruise missile displayed at the Defence Expo 2022 in Gandhinagar on Oct. 18, 2022. South China Sea territorial claims India’s Foreign Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar shakes hands with Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo after a joint press conference at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, March 26, 2024. (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool via Reuters)