{"id":33745,"date":"2014-12-05T15:45:05","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T07:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=33745"},"modified":"2014-12-05T11:28:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T03:28:39","slug":"responding-to-veiled-chinese-criticism-us-defends-its-alliances-as-critical-to-asian-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/12\/05\/responding-to-veiled-chinese-criticism-us-defends-its-alliances-as-critical-to-asian-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding to veiled Chinese criticism, US defends its alliances as critical to Asian security"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"China's<\/a>
China’s Minister of National Defense Gen. Chang Wanquan. Chuck Hagel \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON\u2014The Obama administration pushed back Tuesday against veiled Chinese criticism of America\u2019s alliances in the Asia-Pacific, saying without them, the region would be more volatile.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Defence Minister Chang Wanquan last month called for countries to abandon what he described as \u201cCold War thinking,\u201d and in a high-profile foreign policy address last weekend, President Xi Jinping spoke of a \u201cgrowing trend toward a multipolar world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those comments have been widely seen as jabs at the role of the U.S. as the sole global superpower.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has enjoyed military predominance in the Pacific since the end of World War II\u2014a region where China wields growing clout. The U.S. retains tens of thousands of forces based in Japan and South Korea, and treaty alliances with countries such as Australia and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Evan Medeiros, the top White House official on Asia policy, defended the U.S. effort to modernize and strengthen those alliances as part of its foreign policy \u201cpivot\u201d toward Asia, and build new partnerships with the likes of Myanmar and Vietnam. He said the U.S. wasn\u2019t imposing its will but responding to strong demand for it from the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would the regional security environment in Asia look like if the U.S. abandoned its alliances and dismantled its partnerships? I would argue that it would be far more uncertain, unstable and volatile,\u201d Medeiros told the National Bureau of Asian Research think-tank .<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the global implications of that for a country like the United States which has alliances all over the world would be very, very serious. Could that really be in any country\u2019s interest?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

China views the Obama administration\u2019s \u201cpivot\u201d policy as an attempt to contain its rise. As China looks to take a bigger role on the global stage, it is promoting an alternative vision that stresses security co-operation among Asian nations themselves\u2014although many have been spooked by China\u2019s own military buildup and expansive territorial claims.<\/p>\n

While their strategies clash, Washington and Beijing are at the same time striving to deepen their relations. Xi hosted President Barack Obama in Beijing last month and they announced a significant agreement on combating climate change.<\/p>\n

Medeiros underscored the point Tuesday, saying the U.S. wants its allies to have co-operative relations with China, including its military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u2014The Obama administration pushed back Tuesday against veiled Chinese criticism of America\u2019s alliances in the Asia-Pacific, saying without them, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":32581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-w","mauthors-matthew-pennington","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}