WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday he will address in the coming weeks a US national security strategy to deal with the emergence of China as a great power.

“I will have an opportunity I think, very soon in the coming weeks to speak publicly and in some detail about the about the strategy,” Blinken said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney noted the latest defense authorization act requires the president to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the threat China poses to the global order and asked Blinken about the military agreement recently signed by the Solomon Islands and China.

IMF’s Gopinath says China needs open capital markets for yuan to be global currency

“That is alarming,” Romney said.

Blinken said the State Department sent a high-level delegation to the Solomon Islands, where it plans to open an embassy to have a day in, day out presence there.

“We share the concern about this agreement,” Blinken said. The US delegation met with the islands’ prime minister, who vowed there would be no Chinese military base on the island, he said.

“We will be watching that very, very closely in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken said.