A senior U.S. official urged Southeast Asian nations meeting this weekend in Bangkok to put up a stiffer resistance to China’s militarization of the disputed South China Sea.
At the same time, David Stilwell, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, sought to downplay Chinese concerns over U.S. involvement in the region.
He told a forum in Malaysia that the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific region was not a move to expand U.S. domination but reflected Washington’s “enduring engagement” to make the area prosperous.
China’s smaller neighbors including Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia contest Beijing’s claims of ownership of almost all of the strategically important South China Sea. Beijing has asserted its claim by building seven man-made islands and equipping them with military runways, missile defense systems and outposts.
Stilwell, who is en route to Bangkok for regional summits with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said the grouping should have resisted moves to militarize the South China Sea.
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