US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told a congressional committee the Chinese Communist Party is "the central threat of our times" and he is proud Australia, Japan and the UK have increased maritime manoeuvres in the South China Sea.
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Mr Pompeo also said The Quad, a strategic security group involving the US, Australia, India, and Japan, "has been reinvigorated".
The secretary of state testified before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday about President Donald Trump's 2021 budget request for nearly $US41 billion ($A57 billion) to fund the State Department and United States Agency for International Development.
About $US1.5 billion ($A2.1 billion) is earmarked for Indo-Pacific foreign assistance, a 20 per cent increase from last year's budget request.
"We want that part of the world to be free and open and prosperous," Mr Pompeo said.
Mr Pompeo praised Australia and condemned China during this week's AUSMIN talks with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in Washington DC, and he continued the tone before the Senate committee.
"Our vigorous diplomacy has helped lead an international awakening to the threat of the CCP," Mr Pompeo said.
"Senators, the tide is turning."
He pointed to 30-plus nations banning China's Huawei from their 5G networks, Canada standing firm against "the Chinese Communist Party's hostage-taking", Belize and Haiti denouncing Beijing's national security law targeting Hong Kong and Sweden closing Confucius Institutes.
"Australia declared China's South China Sea claims unlawful and illegitimate, as have we, and we're proud to have stepped up maritime manoeuvres in that body of water alongside our friends from Australia and Japan and the United Kingdom," Mr Pompeo said.
Australian Associated Press
