US open to work with any leader, party in power in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR – The United States has pledged its fullest commitment to working with Malaysia in all areas of healthcare and businesses no matter who the leader is and whichever party is in power.

This assurance was voiced by Daniel J. Kritenbrink, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, when asked to comment on Malaysia’s current political landscape and how much this is influencing Washington’s support towards the Malaysian government.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate or productive to comment on your domestic situation. I would just say our view is that the US is more prosperous and more secure when our partners are as well, so that’s what we are focused on.

We are going to work with your government, whoever it is, whichever party is in power, whichever particular leader is in power, and we will work with Malaysia to say that the US is here to be your partner.

“We have a shared interest in your success and the stronger, the more secure and prosperous Malaysia is, the better it is for the US. We will leave it to our Malaysian friend as our sovereign partner to make its own decisions about whom its leaders are and what specific policies it will adopt.

“Our responsibility is to demonstrate our willingness to work with you and to outline what specific things we can do together,” Kritenbrink said during a media roundtable in Putrajaya recently.

His visit comes ahead of a trip to Southeast Asia by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week. Blinken will call on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and hold talks with Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah on Wednesday.

Kritenbrink said Blinken will focus on security, health, economy and people-to-people ties.

“It is very much in our interest to continue our cooperation on how Malaysia can procure the vaccine and other ways in which the US can provide assistance to the Malaysian public health sector.

“To ensure all countries recover economically from the pandemic shock caused by Covid-19, I know that my counterparts are grateful to discuss issues on supply chains, and all of us have discovered over the last couple of years that we’re not in a situation where we can say that we’ve overcome Covid-19 and go back to business as usual.

“I think that we need to be resilient in our supply chain so that we are not overly dependent on any one country or any one particular resource in order for us to overcome any disruption.

“We’re all in this together, and I know President (Joe) Biden always says ‘none of us are safe until we’re all safe’, so it really is in our interest to get ourselves vaccinated and work on these other issues, too,” said the US diplomat, who, besides Malaysia, also visited Singapore and Thailand.

On Asean, Kritenbrink said that with a population over 660 million people in the region, the US is taking diplomatic ties seriously as a way to help strengthen regional growth.

“Some of the areas that we want to focus on are maritime issues – which are very important to our cooperation with Asean – transportation, and gender equality.

“If you look at America’s trade and investment flowing into Asean, it is massive and we shouldn’t lose sight of it.

“The president (Biden) wants to start a conversation with partners in the region including Malaysia. We want to identify some of the most critical areas in the 21st century and develop with our partners in the region – the norms and rules that develop our activities together like the digital economy, resilience in supply chains, and clean energy.”

He also mentioned that while the relationship between the US and China is still good, their primary concern is the rivalry with the Asian powerhouse in the race for influence over here.

What does concern us is the lack of transparency in various aspects of its military development programs, but I think most concerning to us is the range of China’s behaviour in the region that we find deeply disturbing, including its aggressive moves in the South China Sea and East China Sea, which are designed to expand China’s territorial claim and undermine the sovereignty of other partners in the region.

“Recently President Biden had the opportunity to have a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and I think the nature of that meeting was constructive, productive and very candid.

“But I think President Biden intended to make it clear to the Chinese president about the way we view our relationship with China, which is being defined primarily by competition, but we want that competition to be carried out responsibly.

“And in order to do so, we believe that you do have to engage in diplomacy to make clear your intentions and to ensure that whatever happens, we don’t have any miscalculations that could lead to unintended conflict.

“At the same time, we do believe that in certain areas, where it is in our interest to do so, we can and should cooperate with China on issues related to the climate, counter narcotics, and non-proliferation.” – The Vibes, December 13, 2021