U.S. Stronger in Indo-Pacific than 4 Years Ago: Official

   Washington, Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)--U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration will be taking office with a better Indo-Pacific situation than when President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Deputy State Secretary Kurt Campbell said Thursday.
   "We've handed over a set of circumstances in the Indo-Pacific where we are demonstrably stronger than we were four years ago," Campbell, an expert on Japan, told some media organizations in Washington.
   "At the beginning of the Biden administration, we were all mired in COVID, a very challenging time for the United States," he said. "At the same time, there was a sense that China was ascending rapidly...and there was a sense that you could almost feel the tectonic shifts underway."
   But "the strategic situation has changed substantially in ways that are favorable to the United States," he said, pointing to friction between China and its neighbors, as well as various frameworks of cooperation with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines he worked to create to counter China.
   "China's going to be also critical in the next administration without question," he said, adding that the Trump team is interested in "competition around resources and technology (in) Africa, Latin America and elsewhere."

(2024/12/20-18:50)