US trying to build Asia-Pacific version of NATO: Chinese defence official

Source: Deccan Herald

Singapore: The US is trying to build an Asia-Pacific version of NATO through its Indo-Pacific strategy to maintain its hegemony in the region, a Chinese defence official has said, stressing that Washington's attempt to serve its "selfish' geopolitical interest is "doomed to fail".

The remarks by Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng, deputy chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, came in response to US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin's speech during the Shangri La Dialogue on Saturday in which he spoke about strengthening alliances and partnerships across the region.

Held annually in Singapore, the Shangri La Dialogue is Asia's premier defence summit.

Lieutenant-General Jing warned that if regional countries were to sign up for the US' Indo-Pacific strategy, they would be bound to the "US war chariot" and be lured into "taking bullets for the US".