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Pence in Asia to Highlight US Commitment

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence heads to Singapore Tuesday for regional summits during which he will highlight the Trump administration’s commitment to keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open, but where leaders will be watching closely what he will actually offer, both on security as well as trade and investment. Fulfilling a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” In a briefing to reporters, a senior administration official said the vice president’s visit to the region will unveil “concrete, substantive initiatives” to fulfill the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy outlined by President Donald Trump in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, last year. The strategy focuses on achieving free markets and freedom of navigation in the region, and replaces the Obama-era “pivot to Asia,” a strategic “re-balancing” of U.S. interests from Europe and the Middle East. Since President Trump pulled out of the centerpiece of that strategy, the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade deal, the perception has been the United States has further withdrawn from its engagement in the region, said Angela Mancini, head of Southeast Asia for the consultancy group Control Risks. “All eyes are going to be looking to see what's actually going to be announced this week,” Mancini said, especially on whether the United States will be offering a viable alternative to China’s trillion-dollar investment strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). “There's been a lot of talk around support for infrastructure, but not a lot of money coming in.” she said. A counter to BRI? In his October speech at the Hudson Institute, Pence called Chinese President Xi Jin Ping's Belt and Road Initiative, “debt trap diplomacy.” In Asia, he will likely highlight the American alternative, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC), a new agency created under the bipartisan BUILD Act. The new... If you wish to read this full breaking news headline, plus more articles from around Thailand and Asia like, Pence in Asia to Highlight US Commitment, simply click on 'Read full story' below, but 1st please give us a 'LIKE' or 'SHARE' before you leave. Thank you Pence in Asia to Highlight US Commitment

 

 

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Published By: VOA NEWS - Tuesday, 13 November, 2018

 

 

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