U.S. to Deploy F-35 Fighters to Ensure Effective Rebalancing Strategy

According to foreign news sources, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter revealed during a recent speech that the U.S. will begin to deploy its new F-35 stealth fighters to its base at Okinawa. Japanese media analysts believe that the Pentagon’s plan arises from “broadening worries over Chinese armaments.”

According to an Oct. 3 report by Japanese news agency Kyodo, Carter revealed the plan to deploy new F-35 stealth fighters to the U.S. Kadena Air Base (located in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture) during a speech given in Washington.

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported on the following day that many believe the move by the U.S. to be the result of “broadening worries over Chinese armaments.” The report claimed that as a response to the situation in China and North Korea, fighters will frequently be flown from U.S. territory to Kadena, and that they will be deployed there for approximately six months. F-22 and F-35 fighters both possess advanced stealth capabilities. At the moment it is still unknown whether the F-35s will be rotated in or deployed on a more permanent basis.

Apart from this, Carter spoke strongly in defense of the U.S. military’s shift to the Asia-Pacific region. According to the Reuters report, Carter insisted in the speech that despite worries in the Pentagon about cuts to the defense budget, it still has the resources to implement the new strategy. “The Pentagon leadership is focused intently on executing the rebalance,” said Carter. “We’re watching every dollar, every ship, every plane, to make sure that we execute our rebalance effectively.”

However, in the opinion of several experts at U.S. think tanks, the U.S. viewing China as a threat is unwise. Hong Kong’s Sing Pao reported on Oct. 5 that at an event hosted by a Washington think tank on Oct. 3, former U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger pointed out that future U.S. leaders’ foreign policies toward China should not only focus on interests, but also recognize the existence of differences in fundamental values between the two sides. He also suggested that the U.S. should abandon its great power mindset and not believe that it has an answer to every problem. He added that the Chinese have governed themselves as a state for 4,000 years as the oldest country in history, that they have staggered forward for 3,800 years without help from the United States, and that viewing China as a threat is unwise, concluding by saying that the U.S. should not only resolve its differences with China, but also actively seek opportunities for genuine cooperation.