Pentagon to strengthen alliances and capabilities in Indo-Pacific to counter China

Asia-Pacific, News, US February 11, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. Department of Defense is working to strengthen alliances and capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China and advance a “free and open Indo-Pacific vision that is widely shared throughout the region in the world,” the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Ely Ratner said.

The United States’ seeks to enhance cooperation with Japan, South Korea, and Australia, and outreach to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Quad partners (India, Australia, and Japan), as well as its European allies to “protect” the region and counter “future challenges”.

Ratner said that China aims to overturn the rules-based infrastructure that has kept peace in the Indo-Pacific since the end of World War II. “The Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) is combining its economic, diplomatic, military and technological might as it pursues a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and seeks to become the world’s most influential power,” he said.

“In recent years, the PRC has increasingly turned to the PLA [Peoples’ Liberation Army] as an instrument of coercive statecraft in support of its global ambitions, including by conducting more dangerous coercive and aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific region,” Ratner added.

The Pentagon statement highlighted that the U.S. Department of Defense official briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 9, 2023, and stressed that “China remains the pacing challenge for the U.S. government.” Ratner told the committee members that the United States will fulfill commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act, including “providing Taiwan with self-defense capabilities, and maintaining our own capacity to resist any use of force that jeopardizes the security of the people of Taiwan.”

RAAF Base Tindal Elephant Walk — ^{Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Lightning ll aircraft from No. 75 Squadron participate in an Elephant Walk on the RAAF Base Tindal flight line for Exercise Pitch Black 2022. (Image Credit: Department of Defence Australia)}

The DoD statement added that to couter China, the Pentagon is developing a more “distributed and resilient force posture” and “building stronger networks of like-minded allies and partners”. According to the Assistant Secretary Ratner, “These efforts will play an essential role in sustaining and further strengthening deterrence in the years and decades ahead.”

Last year in December, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III said during a keynote presentation at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that the “next few years will set the terms of our competition with the People’s Republic of China.. and determine whether our children and grandchildren inherit an open world of rules and rights”.

According to U.S. defense secretary, the United States’ network of allies is the country’s main advantage over any potential challenger.

The United States’ closest regional ally Japan is supporting the U.S. regional strategy, U.S. officials firmly support the Japanese decision to acquire new capabilities to strengthen regional deterrence, especially counterstrike capabilities. Similarly, the U.S. is making significant investments in defense ties with India “to uphold a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” according to the DoD statement.

*^{U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III is welcomed to Camp Navarro, Zamboanga, Philippines, on February 1, 2023. (Image Credit: Chad McNeeley/DOD)}*

Under the AUKUS partnership, betwee the Australia, United Kingdom, United States, the Alliance has made significant progress on developing the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire a conventionally armed nuclear powered submarine capability.

Last week U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin also visited Manila where the United States in the Philippines announced four new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites at strategic locations across the country.