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WASHINGTON \u2014 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is condemning reported atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and he says those responsible \u2014 perhaps the country\u2019s military \u2014 will be held accountable.<\/p>\n
Tillerson says accounts of the suffering of the Rohingya are \u201cheartbreaking\u201d \u2014 and that if those reports are true, then \u201csomeone is going to be held to account for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tillerson \u2014 who\u2019s set to visit South Asia next week \u2014 is urging the Myanmar government to improve humanitarian access to the population in western Rakhine state.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International has accused Myanmar\u2019s security forces of killing hundreds of men, women and children during a systematic campaign to expel the Rohingya. More than 580,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since late August.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really hold the military leadership accountable for what\u2019s happening,\u201d Tillerson said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. \u201cWhat\u2019s most important to us is that the world can\u2019t just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also called Wednesday for the U.S. and India to expand strategic ties. He pointedly criticized China, which he accused of challenging international norms needed for global stability.<\/p>\n
He said the world needed the U.S. and India to have a strong partnership.\u00a0The two nations share goals of security, free navigation, free trade and fighting terrorism in the Indo-Pacific, and serve as \u201cthe eastern and western beacons\u201d for an international rules-based order which is increasingly under strain, he said.<\/p>\n
Both India and China had benefited from that order, but Tillerson said India had done so while respecting rules and norms, while China had \u201cat times\u201d undermined them. To make his point, he alluded to China\u2019s island building and expansive territorial claims in seas where Beijing has long-running disputes with Southeast Asian neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina\u2019s provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for,\u201d Tillerson said.<\/p>\n
He added that the U.S. seeks constructive relations with China but \u201cwon\u2019t shrink\u201d from the challenges it poses when it \u201csubverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries, and disadvantages the U.S. and our friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S.-India relations have generally prospered in the past decade, in part because of their shared concerns about the rise of China. While President Donald Trump has looked to deepen cooperation with China on addressing the nuclear threat from North Korea, he\u2019s also sought a closer relationship with India, which shares U.S. worries on Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this period of uncertainty and angst, India needs a reliable partner on the world stage. I want to make clear: with our shared values and vision for global stability, peace and prosperity, the United States is that partner,\u201d Tillerson said.<\/p>\n
Tillerson said the U.S. wants to help improve India\u2019s military capabilities, and also improve security cooperation among the region\u2019s major democracies, which included Japan and Australia.<\/p>\n
Tillerson said the U.S. and India were leading regional efforts on counterterrorism. He called for India\u2019s archrival Pakistan \u201cto take decisive action against terrorist groups based within their own borders that threaten its own people and the broader region.\u201d<\/p>\n