Constructive US-China relations key to regional stability – Kerry

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry said a constructive US-China relationship was key to regional stability and stressed the US was committed to avoiding the trap of strategic rivalry.

In a speech in Hawaii at the end of a week-long trip to Burma, Australia and the Solomon Islands during which he participated in ASEAN and East Asia Summit ministerial meetings, Kerry said the US was focused on constructively managing differences with China.

“One thing I know will contribute to maintaining regional peace and stability is a constructive relationship between the United States and China,” he said.

Kerry began his tour with an announced visit to Afghanistan.

In his speech at the East-West Center in Honolulu on Wednesday, Kerry focused on the next steps in America’s Asia-Pacific strategy including sustainable economic growth, combating the effects of climate change, turning maritime conflicts into regional cooperation and promoting human rights and democracy.

“The United States is an Asian Pacific nation, and we take our enduring interests there very seriously. We know that America’s security and prosperity are closely and increasingly linked to the Asia-Pacific,” Kerry said.

Referring to tensions in the South China Sea, Kerry said the US firmly opposed the use of intimidation, coercion or force to assert a territorial or maritime claim by anyone.

“And we firmly oppose any suggestion that freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are privileges granted by big states to small ones.”

At the ASEAN summit in Myanmar the US proposed a freeze on provocative acts in the South China Sea but China rejected the proposal and accused Washington of deliberately stoking tensions in the region.

In his speech at the East-West Center Kerry did not make any reference to the Chinese rejection.

Instead he said: “We are committed to avoiding the trap of strategic rivalry and intent on forging a relationship in which we broaden our cooperation on common interests and constructively manage our differences and disagreements.”

He said the US welcomed the rise of a peaceful, prosperous and stable China and acknowledged building better ties with Beijing would not be easy.

Kerry said he was pleased at US-China cooperation in some areas, including initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a shared interest in denuclearizing North Korea.