By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 21, 2013 – The Defense Department has
begun to shift its intellectual and physical weight to the Asia-Pacific
to reinforce longstanding military commitments to the region, Deputy
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said here yesterday.
Jakarta was the final stop of the deputy defense secretary’s
weeklong trip to Asia, which included visits to defense and government
officials in Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
Speaking as
part of an international panel at the third Jakarta International
Defense Dialogue, or JIDD, Carter said the United States is serious
about its commitment to the region and detailed elements now in motion
of a rebalance called for in the department’s 2012 Defense Strategic
Guidance.
Despite U.S. spending cuts and ongoing budget debates
in Congress, the deputy defense secretary said, DOD is using whatever
flexibility it has in managing its budget to favor and protect the
rebalance.
“The rebalance will continue and in fact gain momentum
for two reasons. First, U.S. interests here are enduring and so also
will be its political and economic presence,” Carter told an audience of
nearly 1,500 defense, government and security officials from around the
world.
“This presence is accompanied by values -- democracy,
freedom, human rights, civilian control of the military, and respect for
the sovereignty of nations -- that America has long stood for and that
human beings welcome and I think relate to,” he added, “So our interest
in the region will be both believed and reciprocated.”
Former
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and President Barack Obama have made
recent visits to the region, he said, as have former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon.
Secretary of State John Kerry will make his first trip here next month,
Carter said, “ … and Secretary [Chuck] Hagel, who as a senator led the
first U.S. congressional delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue, is
staunchly committed to this region as well, [and] will be attending
Shangri-La.”
Carter said each U.S. leader visiting the region, in
his or her own way, emphasized the central importance of the
Asia-Pacific region to the United States, “and our commitment to making
sure that this region remains safe, secure and prosperous.”
He said the rebalance means that a higher proportion of defense assets will move to the region.
“Secretary Panetta announced last year that 60 percent of our naval
assets will be assigned to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020,” Carter
noted, “a substantial and historical shift.”
The Air Force, he
noted, will increase its presence in the region with tactical aircraft
like the F-22 stealth fighter; space, cyber and bomber forces; and
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets like the MQ-9
Reaper, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft; and the Global Hawk
high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.
“We will be able
to leverage more capacity from our ground forces, including the Army,
Marines and special operations forces, now that they are coming home to
the Pacific from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Carter said, adding, “Also we
are modernizing and enhancing our forward presence across the region in
cooperation with our allies and partners.”
Beginning with Northeast Asia, Carter said DOD is modernizing and updating alliances with Japan and South Korea.
“In Japan we’ve added aviation capability, we are in the process of
realigning the Marine Corps presence in Okinawa, and we are upgrading
our missile defense posture,” he told the audience. The department is
also working to revise defense guidelines there to meet 21st century
challenges, he said.
On the Korean Peninsula, DOD is implementing
the Strategic Alliance 2015 agreement and taking steps to advance the
alliance’s military capabilities to meet the North Korean threat.
Under the SA 2015 roadmap, wartime operational control of Korean forces
will transition from the U.S.-ROK Combined Forces Command to the ROK
Joint Chiefs of Staff in December 2015, according to a January statement
by U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim.
U.S. Forces Korea
will become the U.S. Korea Command, or Korcom, and provide manpower for a
supporting relationship with the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United
States will continue to back the defense of the Republic of Korea with
the full might of the U.S. military, Kim added.
The Defense Department also is enhancing its presence in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Carter said.
“We are not only rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific but also within the
Asia-Pacific, in recognition of the growing importance of Southeast Asia
to the region as a whole [and] emphasizing humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief, capacity building and multilateral exercises,” the
deputy secretary added.
In Australia last year, the initial
company of Marines rotated through Darwin in the first step toward using
this presence to engage in bilateral and multilateral exercises with
regional partners.
In the Philippines, the department is working
to enhance the capacity of the Philippines Armed Forces and increase DOD
rotational presence and partnerships with that key treaty ally, Carter
explained.
In Singapore, the first of four littoral combat ships
will arrive early next month, providing a key capability to work
bilaterally and multilaterally with partners in the region, he added.
“Next, while we will preserve and integrate the counter-insurgency
capabilities that we have worked so hard to develop over the last decade
in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Carter said, “we are giving priority in our …
budget to development platforms and capabilities that have direct
applicability and use in this region.”
Such investments include
the Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine, the fifth-generation Joint
Strike Fighter, the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, the Broad Area
Maritime Sensor, a new stealth bomber, the KC-46 tanker replacement,
cruise missiles and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
platforms, the deputy secretary said.
“We are also protecting our
investments in future-focused capabilities that are so important to
this region,” he added, “such as cyber, science and technology
investments, and space.”
DOD is also investing in its people,
Carter said, in language and cultural skills and regional and strategic
affairs to ensure that the department can cultivate the intellectual
capital that will be required to make good the rebalance.
The
United States is also making critical investments in training ranges and
bases such as Guam, which the department is developing as a strategic
hub for the Western Pacific, he said.
“Fourth, finally and most
importantly,” the deputy secretary noted, “we are revitalizing and
expanding our partnerships across the region. That’s the key. I’ve
mentioned the work we are doing with Japan, Korea, Australia, Singapore
and the Philippines, but we’re doing many other things in other parts of
the region as well.”
- Last November DOD worked with treaty ally
Thailand to update the U.S.-Thailand Joint Vision Statement for the
first time in 50 years.
- With New Zealand, signing the
Washington Declaration and related policy changes opened new avenues for
defense cooperation in maritime security cooperation, humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief, and peacekeeping support.
- In
Burma DOD has resumed limited military-to-military relations and is
working to ensure that the Burmese military supports Burma’s ongoing
reforms.
- With the Vietnamese, through a new memorandum of
understanding, DOD is expanding cooperation in maritime security, search
and rescue, peacekeeping, and humanitarian assistance and disaster
relief.
- In Malaysia and Indonesia, the department is working to
build partner capacity and conduct maritime security and humanitarian
assistance and disaster relief.
China and India also are a critical part of the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific, Carter said.
DOD has invited China to participate in the U.S.-hosted RIMPAC
exercise, the world’s largest multinational maritime exercise, involving
22 nations during its most recent iteration in 2012.
“We are
delighted to have their participation in what will be a strengthening
and growing military-to-military relationship with China, which matches
and follows our growing political and economic relationship with China,”
the deputy secretary said.
Carter called India “a key part of
our rebalance and, more broadly, an emerging power that we believe will
help determine the broader security and prosperity of the 21st century.”
U.S. security interests with India converge on maritime security and
broader regional issues, he said, “including India’s ‘Look East’ policy,
an attempt to forge closer and deeper economic integration with its
eastern neighbors.
With India, Carter said, the department is
also working to deepen defense cooperation, moving beyond defense trade
to technology sharing and coproduction.
Multilaterally, he added,
the department recognizes the importance of strengthening regional
institutions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN,
which plays what the deputy secretary called “an indispensable role in
maintaining regional stability and resolving disputes through
diplomacy.”
The United States can and will succeed in rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific in the years to come, Carter told the audience.
“As we succeed in this,” he added, “we look forward to doing it with all of you represented in this room.”
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