The
United States
will play a leading role in creating a new century of prosperity and security in
Asia
, vice-president
Joe Biden
promised as he wound up an eventful tour of the fast-growing region.
While vice-presidential visits tend to be low-key, Mr Biden has been pushed into a high-profile position during his week in Asia reassuring key allies.
“We actually have a chance – a chance – to bend history just slightly,” Mr Biden said to a group of students in the South Korean capital Seoul.
“With this growth have come new tensions, above and beyond the enduring threats that we face . . . The rules and norms that help advance security and prosperity are still evolving to keep pace with the remarkable changes of the 21st century,” he said.
The backdrop to his visit was China's new air defence zone over the East China Sea, which has raised tensions. Mr Biden said it was "unacceptable" and urged Beijing not to implement it. However, he did not call for it to be abolished.
South Korea is a key ally of the US, and Mr Biden was in Seoul to reassure the Koreans, just as he had in Japan earlier in the week, the American government is serious about the rebalancing of power toward the Asia-Pacific region away from the Middle East, a policy known as the Asian Pivot.
Mr Biden said he had told China’s president Xi Jinping the US military plans to ignore China’s demand that aircraft flying through the air defence space first notify Beijing.
“It will have no effect on American operations. Just ask my general,” Mr Biden said. “None. Zero.” He wants Asian countries to open economies, drop trade barriers, create opportunities for women and co-operate on environmental protection.
He also wants greater co-ordination and called for Asia to adopt a single set of rules to govern relations powerful nations are bitterly feuding.
At the start of a meeting with President Park Geun-hye at the presidential residence, the Blue House, he stressed Washington’s commitment to the Asia Pivot policy.
Obama's backing
"I want to make one thing absolutely clear: President Obama's decision to rebalance to the Pacific basin is not in question," Mr Biden said.
Ms Park expressed her appreciation: “At a time when we have recently been seeing growing volatility and tensions in northeast Asia, it is very helpful for peace in northeast Asia to have a vice-president with such profound insight into foreign affairs travel to this region.”
His trip concludes today with a visit the Demilitarised Zone that has divided South Korea and North Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. – (Additional reporting by Reuters)