U.S. INDO-PACIFIC MILITARY CHIEF VOWS TO AVOID GREAT POWER CONFLICT

New US Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino pledged Friday [Saturday, May 1, 2021, in Manila] to maintain a "free and open" region and provide the deterrence needed to prevent "great power conflict" amid China's growing assertiveness, Kyodo News reported.

Calling the rules-based international order the foundation for the region to thrive and prosper, Aquilino said during a change of command ceremony in Hawaii to replace Adm. Philip Davidson that the environment the United States and its allies have created for decades is "being challenged."

"We are committed to strengthening the relationships with our allies and partners across the globe. We are committed to providing the deterrence needed to prevent great power conflict, and should it be directed, we're committed to be able to fight tonight and win," he said.

Davidson, in his speech, directly mentioned China and warned of its ambitions to expand its influence in the region and its authoritarianism.

"Make no mistake, the Communist Party of China seeks to supplant the idea of a free and open international order with a new order -- one with Chinese characteristics, one where Chinese national power is more important than international law," he said.

"But the strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific is not between our two nations. It is a competition between liberty, the fundamental idea behind a free and open Indo-Pacific, and authoritarianism -- the absence of liberty and the objective of the Communist Party of China," he added.

The remarks echoed U.S. President Joe Biden's framing of the competition between the United States and China as a clash between democracies and autocracies. The administration has been rallying allies and like-mind countries to counter China's rise.

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