US urges China to embrace the same vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific

The US has urged China to embrace the same vision of a "free and open" Indo-Pacific and said it should explain what Beijing does not like about the idea, amidst the PLA flexing its muscles in the region.

The US' vision of a free and open Indo Pacific, which is supported by India, is not so much about countering any particular country, Randall G Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said here yesterday.

"We would prefer China embracing the same vision (of a free and open Indo-Pacific)," he added.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the area.

China recently deployed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-surface missile systems in the disputed South China Sea amid frequent forays by US naval and surveillance aircraft over the region to assert the freedom of navigation especially around the artificial islands built by China, where it has also established garrisons.

Schriver said China's behaviour, and the things they have articulated, through their public statements and actions, is demonstrating that they have a different aspiration for the Indo-Pacific region.

"It is manifested in their economic strategy, belt and road initiative, militarisation of the south China sea, a lot of the coercive approaches to the internal politics of others," he said.

"Our preference would be an inclusive strategy that includes China as a constructive participant and regional affairs," Schriver said at an event organised by the think tank, Carnegie Endowment for International Relations (CEIR).

He further said there is an onus on China to explain what it does not like about the idea of an open and free the Indo-Pacific.

"Then you are getting right to the heart of threatening countries' sovereignty and ability to have a free flow of commerce, freedom of navigation," Schriver said