SYDNEY, Dec.1 (Reuters) – China is waging a “spectacular economic war” against Australia and has tried to “crush” Canberra, which is helping heighten anxiety about Beijing in the region, the Indo-China policy coordinator said. United States Pacific, Kurt Campbell. in a speech Wednesday to a think tank in Sydney.

US President Joe Biden addressed the issue of Australia, which has been the target of trade retaliation by Beijing, during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kurt Campbell said during his speech.

“China would have preferred to break Australia, bring it to its knees,” he said.

The US coordinator underlined the commitment of the United States in its new economic and security alliances in the Indo-Pacific, in particular in the so-called “Aukus” pact with Australia and the United Kingdom and in the quadrilateral dialogue on security (“Quad” ), which includes the United States, Japan, India, and Australia.

“The United States is not leaving the Indo-Pacific and we are not in decline,” Kurt Campbell said, adding that “President Xi’s advisers (seemed to believe) that the United States is in decline.”

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham. Edited by Gerry Doyle)