The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has pledged to defend and strengthen international laws, agreements, principles and institutions that maintain peace and security for all countries.

Blinken in his speech to The George Washington University, Washington, D.C said the U.S would maintain good relationship with China, adding that the relationship will protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations.

He noted that China is a global power with extraordinary reach, influence and ambition.

“It is the second largest economy, with world-class cities and public transportation networks. It’s home to some of the world’s largest tech companies and it seeks to dominate the technologies and industries of the future.

“It has rapidly modernised its military and intends to become a top tier fighting force with global reach. And it has announced its ambition to create a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and to become the world’s leading power.

“China’s transformation is due to the talent, the ingenuity, the hard work of the Chinese people. It was also made possible by the stability and opportunity that the international order provides. Arguably, no country on earth has benefited more from that than China.

“But rather than using its power to reinforce and revitalise the laws, the agreements, the principles, the institutions that enabled its success so that other countries can benefit from them, too, Beijing is undermining them. Under President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad,” Blinken claimed.

He noted that Beijing has perfected mass surveillance within China and exported that technology to more than 80 countries. He also explained that it is advancing unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, undermining peace and security, freedom of navigation, and commerce.

“It is circumventing or breaking trade rules, harming workers and companies in the United States, but also around the world; and how it purports to champion sovereignty and territorial integrity while standing with governments that brazenly violate them,” Blinken alleged.