US ambassador says Indo-Pacific Policy isn’t against China

File: Randy Berry

Kathmandu,September 27

United States Ambassador to Nepal, Randy W Berry, says his government’s much-hyped Indo-Pacific Policy is not against any country including China.

The ambassador’s statement comes at a time when concerns about the policy and Nepal’s involvement in it are mounting in the country. In particular, the analysts have been presenting it as a response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Speaking at an interaction in Kathmandu on Friday, Berry also clarified that the policy was not new, but just a rebranding of what the US had been doing in the region in the past.

He said all countries in the region including China and India were included in the policy.

“It is not exclusionary,” he clarified, adding, “It is based on the same principles that enabled China’s rise.”

On the occasion, Berry said he was worried, though not pessimistic, about the impacts of various misinformation and suspicions about the bilateral relations.

 

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