Secretary of the U.S. Army Christine E. Wormuth testifies at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 22, 2021, during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense - Hearing on Budget Estimates for Fiscal Year 2022 for the Army on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. REUTERS Joshua Roberts
WASHINGTON, Dec 1, Reuters - The U.S. Army is keen to expand its access and basing arrangements in Southeast Asia as part of a strategy to deter China, the secretary of the army said on Wednesday.
Christine Wormuth told a Washington think tank such a posture shift was in the interests of both the United States and its allies and partners in the region, but there was a need to be realistic about what is possible, she said. Positioning U.S. military equipment in Asia had been heavily oriented towards Northeast Asia.
She told the Center for Strategic and International Studies that there was a desire to expand our access and basing arrangements more into Southeast Asia because if we were able to do that, we would have a more dispersed posture that would give us more flexibility.
She said that it is very important in our interests and in the interests of our allies and partners to explore how we can shift that posture over time.
I think that we need to be realistic about what is possible, as we look at the operational challenges, we need to have realistic assumptions about the locations from where we might be able to operate. Wormuth spoke at a time when the Biden administration has been stepping up its engagement with Southeast Asia, a region it sees as central to its strategy of competition with an ever more assertive and militarily expanding China.
The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink, is currently in Southeast Asia in the latest visit by a senior U.S. official. Wormuth did not say where the army is interested in expanding its access, but said progress with the Philippines in renewing an agreement allowing the rotational presence of U.S. troops had been very important.
She said that there was a need for more opportunities to pre-position equipment as part of an ongoing Pentagon force posture review.
She said it was important to work together to avoid war in Asia and the best strategy was strong deterrence to make sure that Xi Jinping's leaders do not think today is the day to forcibly reunify with Taiwan. Wormuth said that the army's role was in long-range fires, including hypersonic weapons it plans to start fielding.
She stressed concerns about possible misunderstandings that could lead to conflict, and the need to avoid second Cold War framing and maintain lines of communication with Beijing.
She said that we need to have channels where we can have dialogue with the Chinese government.