SECOND TAKE
CHINA DAILY: `US risks relations if it meets olive branch with stick
In a phone call with his Philippine counterpart last week, US secretary of state Antony Blinken made public the new US administration’s intention to carry on its predecessor’s practice of meddling in affairs related to the South China Sea. This followed US defence secretary Lloyd Austin indicating in a telephone call with his Japanese counterpart on Sunday that this would also be the case regarding the East China Sea. Austin’s remarks came on the same day that state department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement that “our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid”.
Though these messages were predictable, they nevertheless bode ill for regional stability. Most of the security treaties between the US and East Asian and Southeast Asian countries are relics of World War 2 and the Cold War. The reason the US administration still binds these countries to outdated treaties is that it is intent on using them as pawns in its geopolitical game with China. Just as it does with its Europe...
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