Pentagon Beefs Up with a New Continent

The U.S. is approaching completion of a new military strategy in the Pacific Rim, having begun to deploy a division of Marines to the Australian continent. Officially, their purpose is to conduct joint operations with Australia and carry out humanitarian missions. But in the U.S. the main goal of its Asian military build-up is no secret: to neutralize the influence of China.

President Barack Obama and Australian Premier Julia Gillard signed the agreement making Australia a new military base during an official visit in November. According to the agreement, 2,500 U.S. Marines will deploy to Robertson Barracks, an Australian army base on the outskirts of Darwin. Recently, it was revealed that the Pentagon is planning to conduct full-fledged military training exercises in the near future in exactly this region. In these exercises, the U.S. plans to practice not just landing amphibious troops, but also the seizure of a potential enemy’s combat vessels.

The vanguard group of Marines, 180 in total and gathered from the 3rd Division based in Hawaii, arrived in Australia last Wednesday. The day before, Admiral (Ret.) Robert Willard, the former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, stated that the move will allow the U.S. to more effectively give humanitarian aid in times of natural disaster. A Marine spokesman was more open. Captain Greg Wolf clarified: “There are two big thrusts here. One is obviously training with Australian defense forces and strengthening our already strong alliance with them. The other is to deploy throughout the region to further regional security in that part of the world.”

In Washington it is no secret that China’s developing military potential is an ever-increasing concern for the U.S. military. Last year, the balance of power in the Pacific Rim was named as one of the most important foreign policy issues for the U.S. In November, the Pentagon announced the creation of a division: Air Sea Battle Command. This group will be responsible for the preparation of the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to repel an attack by the People’s Republic of China. In the list of potential threats fall Chinese “anti-missile systems, cyber-weapons, submarines and stealth planes and long distance rockets capable of destroying aircraft carriers.”*

At a closed Pentagon briefing an official representative stated that the new ASBC is not planning “military operations against a specific, concrete government.” Nevertheless, a high-ranking White House official confirmed that China is the main goal of this strategy. He clarified: “Air Sea Battle Command will become for Beijing exactly the kind of clear signal that our naval strategy was for the USSR.”*

In early November, U.S. President Barack Obama made some remarks about this new military strategy. In the next few years the Pentagon will conduct a reorganization of forces to strengthen its presence in the region, while simultaneously deepening military cooperation with Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, while presenting before the Senate Subcommittee on Defense in February, spoke openly: “We’re an Asian power. We have interest in that part of the world. And I believe that the Chinese and other people in that part of the world need to recognize that we do have US national security interests there.”

Area expert Patrick Cronin, from the Washington-based think tank Center for a New American Security, stated that ASBC is “part of a general idea about how to disperse military power away from a concentration in North Asia. It’s a continuing concerted step over the past five years when the Chinese rise has loomed larger as an issue than ever.”

Australia is an ideal base for carrying out this new strategy. Australian military bases are located outside the range of Chinese ballistic missiles, yet at the same time can control ship and air traffic in the South China Sea. The port at which the U.S. Marines will be based is located only 820 kilometers from Indonesia, allowing a quick response to any situation in the South China Sea. The U.S. is also considering creating drone aircraft in the Cocos Islands. During Barack Obama’s visit, Australian officials expressed their readiness to supply a naval base for the U.S. in Perth, and to allow American naval vessels to use the port in Brisbane.

Australian Minister of Defense Stephen Smith stated at a ceremony greeting the U.S. Marines, “We see this very much as responding and reflecting the fact that the world is moving into our part of the world, the world is moving to the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean. We need to respond to that. The world needs to essentially come to grips with the rise of China, the rise of India, the move of strategic and political and economic influence to our part of the world.”

*Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.