China sees red at US Indo-Pacific strategy, calls it a ploy to fuel confrontation

After talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in Guangzhou on Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the US Indo-Pacific strategy is one of inciting hostility and undermining peace.

"The United States' Indo-Pacific strategy creates severe anxiety around the world, particularly in Asia Pacific countries," he said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

The real goal of this plan, according to a Chinese top diplomat, is to confine China and make Asia-Pacific countries pawns in the face of US hegemony.

"Facts will prove that the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy is in essence a strategy to create division, to incite confrontation, and to undermine peace," Wang said.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks as President Joe Biden arrived in Japan on Sunday to introduce a strategy for deeper US economic involvement with the Indo-Pacific region and to attend a meeting of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), which includes India, Japan, and Australia in addition to the United States.

During his visit to Japan, Biden will also unveil a new regional initiative called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), according to the White House.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, ahead of his departure to Japan, that the Quad leaders' summit in Tokyo will evaluate the status of the bloc's projects and address developments in the Indo-Pacific region.

This was Bilawal’s maiden visit to China after he took over as foreign minister following the fall of the Imran Khan-led government last month.

The US "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is bound to be a failed strategy, Wang said in the comments posted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on its website.

China refers to the area as the Asia-Pacific region and is averse to the Indo-Pacific strategic concept, which has gained prominence during previous President Donald Trump’s tenure and is vigorously pursued by his successor, Biden.

The Asia-Pacific should become a plateau for peaceful development, rather than a geopolitical arena. Attempts to turn the Asia-Pacific into a bloc, like NATO or the Cold War, will never succeed, Wang said.

The Quad grouping of the US, Japan, India and Australia focussed on free and open Indo-Pacific while Beijing likens it to ‘Asian NATO’ aimed to contain its rise.

The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military manoeuvring in the resource-rich region.

Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam all claim parts of the disputed South China Sea, while China claims practically all of it. In the South China Sea, Beijing has constructed artificial islands and military outposts. In the East China Sea, China has territorial disputes with Japan.

In the name of "freedom and openness," Wang claims that the US Indo-Pacific strategy is bent on building "cliques." China claims the alliance will "alter China's surrounding environment." Its goal, according to Wang, is to restrain China and turn Asia-Pacific countries into "pawns" of US hegemony.

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