Antony Blinken: “If China uses force to impose its will, we will react accordingly”

The foreign and defense ministers of the United States and Japan warned China on Tuesday that they had renewed their commitment to oppose “coercion and destabilizing behavior” from Beijing.

Officials consider in a joint statement that “China’s behavior, when inconsistent with the existing international order, presents political, economic, military and technological challenges“.

“Ministers pledged to oppose coercion and destabilizing behavior [de Beijing] to others in the region”, They said in the statement at a meeting in Tokyo.

“China’s behavior presents political, economic, military and technological challenges”

The two parties thus expressed their “serious concern over recent disruptive events in the region“In direct reference to recent Chinese movements.

U.S. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have started their first overseas trip to Japan, to strengthen regional alliances with China.

“If China uses force to impose its will, we will react accordingly.Blinken warned during a press conference held at the end of the meeting, during the visit to Japan of the two ministers of the new American administration.

In addition, the authorities reiterated their opposition to “any unilateral action aimed at changing the status quo or undermining the administration” of the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Tokyo and whose sovereignty is claimed by China, where this small archipelago is known. under the name of Diaoyu.

The Asian giant “had a coercive and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, sometimes directed against our allies in the region, and it is something against which we will react in a coherent way ”, declared the American Minister of Defense in the same spirit.

The talks come as the administration of US President Joe Biden seeks to reestablish those alliances after four years of Donald Trump’s rule.

Austin and Blinken are also consulting their allies in Asia on a review of Washington’s policy towards North Korea, which he criticized in the United States on Tuesday.

The joint declaration therefore calls for the “complete denuclearization” of Pyongyang, warning that the North Korean arsenal “constitutes a threat to international peace and stability”.

“China has been coercive and aggressive in the South Sea”

The US Secretary of State declined to comment on statements made by Kim Jong Un’s sister, the influential Kim Yo Jong, for whom Washington “is trying to spread the smell of gunpowder … the other side of the ocean ”.

“Looking to the future, we share the determination to meet the challenge posed by North Korea, in particular with regard to its nuclear missile programs, as well as, of course, their violation of human rights, ”according to Blinken.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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