US diverting its fleet to the Pacific

Who in their right mind would ever believe that this is not directed against China?

One of the great new areas of resource rivalry is set to be centered in the Pacific - specifically the South China Sea.

US flexes Pacific muscle

AUSTRALIA has thrown its support behind a ''rebalancing'' of American military might in the Pacific region, which promises to deepen strategic rivalries with China.

SMH,

3 June, 2012

Defence Minister Stephen Smith yesterday spoke of the ''positive impact'' of the United States on regional security, just hours before the US presented its most detailed plan of how it will bulk up military might into the Pacific region while making budget cuts elsewhere.

Chinese analysts said the US and Australian comments would provide more ammunition to those in China who argued that the US was using its allies to ''contain'' China's rise.

But, they said, the civilian Chinese leadership was unlikely to be drawn into a new verbal spat with the US or Australia as it continues to play down diplomatic incidents - including the arrest of an alleged American spy - in an attempt to smooth the road to a once-a-decade leadership transition later this year.

''By 2020, the navy will reposture its forces from today's roughly 50-50 split between the Pacific and the Atlantic to about a 60-40 split between those oceans,'' US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Asian officials at a conference in Singapore yesterday.

''That will include six aircraft carriers in this region, a majority of our cruisers, destroyers, combat ships and submarines,'' he said.

''Make no mistake - in a steady, deliberate and sustainable way - the United States military is rebalancing and brings enhanced capabilities to this vital region.''

Mr Smith spoke at the same Shangri-La conference in Singapore, en route to Beijing, making his first visit as Defence Minister.

A new book - The Kingdom and the Quarry: China, Australia, Fear and Greed, by David Uren - has revealed the existence of a secret chapter in Australia's 2009 Defence White Paper that contemplated war with China.

Mr Smith yesterday dismissed the possibility that American military and economic power would ''somehow be rapidly eclipsed overnight as a result of the new distribution of power to Asia''.

''In Australia's view, the United States has underwritten stability in the Asia-Pacific for the past half-century and will continue to be the single most important strategic factor in our region for the foreseeable future,'' he said.

But the US announcement is one more step towards a militaristic rivalry between the world's two largest powers.

''The strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington is becoming more profound,'' said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at the People's University of China.

''At least into the next generation we will continue to see strategic rivalry becoming more profound and more widespread.''

Andrew Davies, director of military operations and capabilities at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said there was too much economic integration between China and the US to allow a Soviet-style cold war to develop between the two powers.

But, he said, the strategic rivalry was becoming more militaristic.

Beijing and Washington have managed to smooth over a series of diplomatic incidents in recent months.

In recent days it has emerged that the personal assistant to a vice-minister at China's Ministry of State Security has been detained in China on charges of spying for the US.

Last month the US gave political refuge to the Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng.

In February China's most famous policeman, Wang Lijun, sought refuge in another US diplomatic mission, precipitating the purge of a Politburo member, Bo Xilai.

‘This is not about China’: US to move majority of warships to Asia-Pacific

The US is set to reposition its Navy fleet with the majority of its warships to be assigned to the Asia-Pacific by 2020. But this military strategy has nothing to do with US-Chinese rivalry in the region, the defense secretary assures

RT,

2 June, 2012

The US would reposition its Navy so that 60 per cent of its warships would be assigned to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, compared to about 50 per cent now, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told senior civilian and military leaders from about 30 Asia-Pacific nations at an annual security forum in Singapore.

"Some view the increased emphasis by the United States on the Asia-Pacific region as some kind of challenge to China. I reject that view entirely," he said. "Our effort to renew and intensify our involvement in Asia is fully compatible… with the development and growth of China. Indeed, increased US involvement in this region will benefit China as it advances our shared security and prosperity for the future."

But in laying out core US principles in the region, Panetta made clear Washington opposed any attempt by Beijing to make unilateral moves in its push for territorial rights in the oil-rich South China Sea.

Panetta's comments came at the start of a seven-day visit to the region to prove to its Asian allies that it intends to remain a crucial military and economic power in the region to counterbalance China's growing influence.

The trip includes stops in Vietnam and India, and comes at a time of renewed tensions over competing sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, with the Philippines, a major US ally, and China in a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal near the Filipino coast.

The US aims to reassure its allies that Washington would act to counterbalance China's growing influence on the South China Sea as part of its foreign policy known as the "pivot to Asia". Panetta said the US will be committed to alliances instead of new permanent bases and mentioned treaties with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia as well as partnerships with India, Singapore, Indonesia and others.

Panetta also said Washington also would work to increase the number and size of bilateral and multilateral military training exercises it conducts in Asia-Pacific. Officials said last year the US carried out 172 such joint drills in the region.

Panetta reiterated he was committed to a "healthy, stable, reliable and continuous" military-to-military relationship with China, but underscored the need for Beijing to support a system to clarify rights in the region and help to resolve disputes.

"China has a critical role to play in advancing security and prosperity by respecting the rules-based order that has served the region for six decades," he said.

President Obama unveiled the new US defense strategy at the start of the year. The US leader stressed that the shift in focus to Asia comes amid increasing concern at the Pentagon over China's strategic goals. Beijing begins to field a new generation of weapons that American officials fear are designed to prevent US naval and air forces from projecting power into the Far East.

In response, Beijing warned the US to be "careful in its words and actions and do more that is beneficial to the development of relations between the two countries and their militaries."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated the expanded US military presence in Asia was based on a miscalculation of Beijing's intent to modernize its military defenses.

"The accusation targeting China in the document has no basis, and is fundamentally unrealistic," the Foreign Ministry proclaimed back in January, shortly after the release of Washington’s new strategy. "China adheres to the path of peaceful development, an independent and peaceful foreign policy and a defensive national defense policy.”