There's no room for imperial powers in 21st century, says US NSA

Taking a dig at China, a top Trump administration official has said that there is no room for "imperial powers" in the international system of the 21st century where big countries could take advantage of smaller ones.

US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, responding to questions on the increasing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region, said that countries should deal with each other as sovereigns, equals and in accordance with the international law and customs.

"There is no room for imperial powers anymore. Those days are in the past.

"The days that big countries could take advantage of small countries just because of their size, just because one country is big and one country is small, we don't think that there is any place for that in the international system of the 21st century," O'Brien told reporters at a news conference in Bangkok.

His statement came on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Bangkok during which China's fast expanding military and economic expansionism in the Indo-Pacific region figured prominently.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it.

Asked how concerned is he that China is going to be a new imperial power, the US NSA said: