Blinken addresses ministers from Asian nations at APEC forum

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed ministers from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco on Tuesday, quotes a 2020 statement of the group that calls for an"open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community”.

Blinken called for Pacific Rim nations to be free to choose their own partners. “The United States believes in that vision a region where economies are free to choose their own path and their partners, where problems are dealt with openly, where rules are reached transparently and applied fairly, where goods, ideas and people flow lawfully and freely," he said.