by Raheela Nazir, Jiang Chao
ISLAMABAD, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The so-called "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)" led by the United States is a political tool for Washington to create division in the Asia-Pacific, undermine regional stability, and maintain economic hegemony, said a Pakistani expert.
The IPEF, launched by U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday, has raised concerns in the Asia-Pacific.
The pledge to promote "inclusive" growth and regional cooperation through the new economic framework is nothing but a pack of lies as the United States persuades certain countries to join the IPEF while leaving out others including China, an important contributor to the regional development, Muhammad Asif Noor, director of the Islamabad-based think tank Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"The U.S. intends to increase its foreign direct investment in the region and assist 12 other nations to grow exponentially, but it must be kept in mind that mere 12 nations are not the Asia-Pacific, not even Indo-Pacific," he said.
Noor said that the IPEF seeks to undertake unilateral measures to split the global economy by creating parallel economic systems, sanctioning technology to regress growth, and manipulating the global supply chains.
Such moves would "sabotage multilateralism and free trade rules while promoting protectionism in the world," he said.
The expert believed that the recently introduced economic framework is a part of Washington's "Indo-Pacific Strategy," which he said was primarily a road map devised by the United States to encircle and contain China through a ring of alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.
"As a result of China's robust economic development and regional integration building to create a peaceful, stable and prosperous shared future for mankind, the U.S. and some of its allies in the region began to feel threatened, thus ganging up to create conflicts and confrontations with a Cold War mentality and a hegemonic mindset," the expert said.
Noor said that the introduction of the term Indo-Pacific narrowed down the region of Asia-Pacific to the states sharing coasts in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean while focusing on the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region and the South China Sea.
It is an attempt to "create a division in geographically linked states" in the name of freedom and openness, he said.
The global economy faces the biggest challenges in history, with soaring inflation, food, energy and supply chain crises, so the countries around the world need unity and mutual cooperation rather than division and zero-sum confrontation to cope with the on-going difficult time, the expert noted.
Any move by the United States to dismantle the current regional cooperation structure or harm regional integration by introducing new economic initiatives will not serve the purpose and is bound to fail, Noor said, adding that the people of the Asia-Pacific should also reject the outdated bloc mentality of the United States to circumvent the possibility of turmoil, wars or instability in the region. ■
