US to strengthen alliances, enhance military activities in Indo-Pacific region

News, US December 14, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. Department of Defense is set to enhance military capabilities and increase activities with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said during the 2022 Aspen Security Forum.

According to the deputy secretary of defense, the department seeks to get forward, combat-credible capabilities to the warfighter as fast as possible and invest in military-to-military activities with the U.S. regional allies.

Hicks highlighted the U.S. military activities with the allies by saying that last year “the department landed F-35 aircraft on a Japanese helicopter carrier and on a United Kingdom aircraft carrier”.

She stressed that “the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue among Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, along with bilateral activities with a number of other nations in the Indo-Pacific region” are some of the examples of the U.S. increasing engagements with regional allies.

Hicks also noted strong U.S. bipartisan support for its allies including Ukraine and Taiwan and said that the U.S. military “support for Ukraine is in no way negatively affecting our ability to conduct foreign military sales or otherwise support Taiwan.”

According to the Department of Defense release, the deputy secretary of defense said that “the United States is beefing up its defense industrial base, which will be critical for support to Taiwan, and U.S. allies and partners in the region.”

^{U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 2d Marines and members of the Japan Self-Defense Force Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade offload a Japan Self Defense Force CH-47JA Chinook helicopter during Keen Sword 23 Exercise at Tsutara, Japan, on November 16, 2022. (Image Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Scott Aubuchon)}

Last week, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities, Mara Karlin said during the Defense Forum Washington 2022 that integrated deterrence is an important part of the U.S. defense strategy and will help build “a combat credible force across all domains and across the full spectrum of conflict to deter aggression in the face of the pacing threat from China and the acute threat from Russia”.

U.S. Department of Defense’s new strategy described China as the pacing threat and Russia as an acute threat. Similarly, the National Defense Strategy of 2022 termed China as the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security.

Earlier on December 8, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Deputy Prime Minister and Australian Minister for Defense Richard Marles, and UK’s Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace held trilateral talks at the Pentagon and discussed AUKUS Security Partnership and ways to enhance military capability and increase interoperability to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region.

The defense leaders of the U.S., UK, and Australia emphasized that “AUKUS is a strategic partnership focused on enhancing regional stability and safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific where conflicts are resolved peacefully and without coercion.”