Mattis heads to Asia to draw a contrast with assertive China

The US defence secretary James Mattis began a one-week trip to Asia on 21 January, hoping to strengthen defence cooperation with Indonesia and Vietnam as regional Chinese military power looms ever larger.

In Jakarta, where he is to arrive 22 January, Mattis is to meet on Tuesday with president Joko Widodo and defence minister Ryamizard Ryacudu for talks on maritime cooperation. 

The vast Indonesian archipelago reaches from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

In Vietnam, Mattis and his counterparts are set to discuss freedom of movement in the South China Sea, a region over which Beijing has extended its dominance in recent years, militarising several small, disputed islands.

Washington hopes to draw a contrast between its own approach and those of China - seen as aggressively modernising its military capacities - and Russia, which has annexed parts of Georgia and Ukraine.

‘The point I want to make is, we respect Asia's sovereign nations with a sovereign voice and sovereign decisions, and we don't think anyone else should have a veto authority over their economic, their diplomatic or their security decisions,’ Mattis said.