MOAA Professional Series
• Australia is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar buildup of naval and air forces and is doubling its submarine fleet.
• Japan is investing $8 billion in new warplanes and adding six new submarines to its fleet. Tokyo recently elevated the Defense Agency to a full-fledged ministry.
• India will christen 75 new warships by 2019, deploy new missiles and military units on the Chinese border, and acquire squadrons of AH-64D Apache attack helicopters and 126 fighter-bombers.
• The Philippines is scrambling to rebuild its woefully underequipped military, recently purchasing new helicopters and a decommissioned U.S. cutter to monitor its swath of the South China Sea. Another destroyer is on the way, courtesy of the U.S.
• Vietnam is purchasing anti-ship missiles, attack submarines, and Su-30 warplanes.
• With 1,600 Chinese missiles trained on the island, Taiwan is deploying anti-sub and anti-ship missiles, precision landattack missiles, and a missile capable of striking Beijing.
• The U.S. is in the midst of a $15 billion upgrade of military facilities on Guam. And the Pentagon’s new AirSea Battle concept is tailored to countering China.
China’s nervous neighbors increasingly recognize that only by pooling their resources can they build a credible deterrent. That’s where the emerging security structure in the Asia-Pacific region comes into play. This is not a single alliance like that of Cold War Europe but rather an alliance of alliances, with the U.S. as the common denominator to each.
• Japan, for example, has deepened security partnerships with the U.S., South Korea, Australia, and India; has dispatched warships into the South China Sea for maneuvers with Australia and the U.S.; has contemplated intervening in contingencies in the Taiwan Strait and on the Korean Peninsula; and even has mulled developing nuclear weapons, according to Defense News.
• The U.S. and Australia inked a landmark deal in late 2011 granting the U.S. broad access to Australian ports and bases. Some 2,500 Marines will be based in northern Australia, and the U.S. is prepositioning weaponry in Australia.
• The U.S. plans to base littoral combat ships in Singapore.
• India and the U.S. increasingly view one another as a counterweight to China, each providing strategic depth vis-à-vis Beijing. The two have conducted large-scale military maneuvers since 2002. India is supporting Vietnam’s claims on energy deposits in the South China Sea. And Vietnam has granted India port access.
• The U.S., India, and Japan held their first-ever trilateral security talks in late 2011.
• Vietnam and the U.S. Navy have a deepening relationship, including training exercises and regular port visits by U.S. warships.
• In a tectonic shift from the 1990s, when the Philippines sent the U.S. packing, Manila has sought clarification on whether the 1951 U.S.-Philippine defense treaty would cover Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. “We are determined and committed to supporting the defense of the Philippines,” Clinton declared in 2011.
• The U.S. and Indonesia restarted military-to-military cooperation in 2010.
• The U.S. led 18 major exercises enfolding 27 of Pacific Command’s partner nations in 2011. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the U.S. is “looking at increasing exercises in the Pacific region.”
Risk of miscalculations
In short, the U.S. military is pivoting toward the Pacific. As President Obama puts it, “The United States is stepping up its commitment to the entire Asia-Pacific region.”
“We’re concerned about China,” Panetta says. “The most important thing we can do is to project our force into the Pacific — to have our carriers there, to have our fleet there, [and] to be able to make very clear to China that we are going to protect international rights to be able to move across the oceans freely.”
Clarity is essential to keeping the peace. Yet China’s motivations are opaque at best. Citing the “pace, scope, and structure of China’s military modernization,” the Australian military worries about the “the possibility of miscalculation.” Likewise, Mullen has warned, “Ongoing incidents could spark a miscalculation and an outbreak that no one anticipated.”
Misunderstandings already abound in the South China Sea. For example, Beijing expects others to observe its EEZ as sovereign Chinese territory, even though it refuses to respect the EEZs of other nations. Just ask Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines.
But EEZs are not sovereign territory, which explains why the U.S. military sometimes operates close to China’s shores. In doing so, Washington contends it is keeping the sea-lanes open, while Beijing views it as trespassing.
This difference of opinion, as the ESRC warns, “could lead to further incidents involving the U.S. military” — the very kind of incidents Mullen worries about. Navy Vice Adm. Scott Swift, commander
[CONTINUES ON PAGE 75]
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
What is your opinion about the military threats in the Asia-Pacific region?
Go to
www.moaa.org/asiapacific and scroll to the bottom to comment. Or mail MOAA, Attn: Editor, 201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314.
APRIL 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 53
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100