I want to use some of our time together this morning to take stock of pressures on the regional order and their implications.
Acknowledging those actions is not enough; we also need to extrapolate the trend line and recognize the likely future we arrive at if we do not act to call out disruptive actors and take a stand against the challenges to regional order.
The challenges are significant. We are focused on negotiations to achieve “final, fully verified denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” we acknowledge that North Korea has neared a point where it could credibly strike regional allies, U.S. territory, and our forward－deployed forces. North Korea remains an extraordinary threat and requires continued vigilance.
A full range of transnational challenges persists：attacks by militants affiliated with or inspired by ISIS – as seen in Sri Lanka’s deadly Easter Sunday bombings – and other international terrorist groups, proliferation, narcotics, natural disasters, and disease.
Perhaps the greatest long－term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules－based international order.
These actors undermine the system by using indirect, incremental actions and rhetorical devices to exploit others economically and diplomatically, and coerce them militarily.
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