The United States pledged Tuesday to help Indo-Pacific countries build better infrastructure to counter China’s ambitious connectivity scheme to construct railways, dams and power plants across the region.

In thinly-veiled criticism of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listed frequent complaints linked to Beijing-backed infrastructure projects, including opaque contracts, the influx of foreign workers, environmental pollution and debt traps.

“Countries in the Indo-Pacific want a better kind of infrastructure, but many feel it’s too expensive, or they feel pressured to take bad deals on terms set by others, rather than no deals at all,” Blinken said in a speech at the University of Indonesia during a two-day visit to the country.

“So we will work with countries in the region to deliver the high quality, high-standard infrastructure that people deserve,” he said.

The U.S.-led Build Back Better World Partnership (B3W) initiative, announced in June at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, promises sustainable and value-driven infrastructure investment to the tune of “hundreds of billions of dollars” in low- and middle-income countries in coming years.

President Joe Biden said at the time that the program would help narrow a U.S. $40 trillion need for infrastructure projects across the developing world.

Blinken said the United States, Japan and Australia had provided more than $48 billion in government-backed financing for infrastructure for the region since 2015.

In addition, American companies have invested more than $1 trillion in the region, he said.

“And together with Australia and Japan, we launched the Blue Dot Network to start certifying high quality infrastructure projects that meet the benchmarks developed by the G20, the OECD and others, and to attract additional investors,” he said.

A four-year study by AidData, an international development research lab at U.S. university William & Mary, found that countries owed under-reported debts of at least $385 billion to China in the past two decades, and that one-third of projects under BRI have run into major implementation problems.

The hidden debts, which slipped through the scrutiny of international lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and credit rating agencies, mean borrowing countries may have to repay more than they think, AidData said.

South China Sea

Blinken said the United States was determined to uphold freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and would work with other countries to defend “the rules-based-order” in the Indo-Pacific.

He said Beijing’s actions in the contested waters threatened the movement of more than U.S.$3 trillion worth of commerce every year.

“It’s not about a contest between a U.S.-centric region or a China-centric region. The Indo Pacific is its own region. Rather, it’s about upholding the rights and agreements that are responsible for the most peaceful and prosperous period this region and the world has ever experienced,” he said.

He cited a laundry list of accusations against China, including distorting open markets through subsidies to its state-run companies, denying exports or revoking deals for countries whose policies it does not agree with, and engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities.

“When commerce can’t traverse open seas, that means that farmers are blocked from shipping their produce, factories can’t ship their microchips, hospitals are blocked from getting life-saving medicines,” Blinken said.

The U.S. president will be inviting Southeast Asian leaders for a summit in the United States “in coming months, to discuss how we can deepen our strategic partnership,” he said.

His trip to the region comes on the heels of tours by several other senior American officials, and will include stops in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, as Washington tries to match an increasingly assertive China in its economic and geopolitical influence in the Indo-Pacific.

“The United States recognizes that much of our planet’s future will be written in the Indo-Pacific. Our enduring commitment to this region and our collaboration with our allies and partners will help us to achieve a free and open, interconnected, prosperous, resilient, and secure region for all,” the U.S. diplomat said.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.