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Latest High-Level US Visit to Asia Seen Locking in Trump's Tough China Policy

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - U.S. national security advisor Robert O'Brien is
   visiting Vietnam and the Philippines this month to help bulk up
   international resistance against Chinese maritime expansion, a sore
   spot between the superpowers, in ways that outlast President Donald
   Trump's term in office, analysts say.

   O'Brien met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during a
   November 20-22 trip. The national security advisor "reaffirmed U.S.
   support for a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam that
   contributes to international security and respects the rule of law,"
   the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam said in a statement.

   U.S. officials often cite rule of law and security cooperation to
   contrast what they like about Southeast Asian states against
   Washington's view of China as a country that does things its own way.

   The U.S. official's trip following a Vietnam[1]visit last monthby
   Secretary of State MikePompeo fortifies the current U.S. position of
   building up allies from Japan to Australia as a multi-country barrier
   against Chinese maritime expansion, analysts believe.

   "Most of us would agree it is a position that has been implicitly been
   mentioned in the past, but now the U.S. government is making it more
   strongly explicit in support of those claims," said Collin Koh,
   maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University
   in Singapore.

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/pompeo-wraps-5-nation-asia-visit-vietnam-recurring-anti-china-theme

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