China slams Asia-focused U.S. defense strategy
BEIJING (AP) – China on Monday slammed the United States' new Asian-focused defense strategy, saying its accusations of a lack of openness in Beijing's military policy were "groundless and untrustworthy."
The strategy unveiled on Thursday shifts the U.S. military focus away from Iraq and Afghanistan and makes a renewed commitment to assert America's position in the Asia-Pacific region.
The document says the growth of China's military power must be accompanied by greater clarity in its strategic intentions to avoid causing friction in the region.
In response, China said it was committed to peaceful development and a "defensive" policy.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-01-09/us-china-defense/52468046/1
Since when does the United States need an increased military presence in the Asia-Pacific region?
Isn't this decision politically antagonistic and economically impractical?
= new reply since forum marked as read
The confused policy of "congagement" - mixing containment and engagement - has increasingly characterized the US approach to China. Americans want the benefit of trade and support for international initiatives, but fear a wealthier and more assertive Beijing pursuing its own interests. The result is more than the usual incoherence from Washington.
Disagreements among otherwise friendly states are not uncommon - just look at the United States and European countries. However, the trans-Atlantic relationship is rooted in cooperation. There is no military competition, no troop deployments linked to European foreign policy, no Pentagon reports on Europe's threatening military.
Washington's view of China's security policy and military developments is very different. The Department of Defense publishes an annual report on the Chinese military, the very existence of which implies that China is a potential threat. And the report is casually waved as evidence of the need for the US to maintain its extraordinary military outlays - roughly as much as the rest of the world combined.
But not just continued spending on personnel and weapons. Also the deployment of those forces far from the US and close to China, like in Australia. Over the years the US has perceived other potential enemies in Asia - Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia - and developed alliances accordingly. Now the first is a close ally, the second is an impoverished nation, and the third poses no threat and is focused westward. Maintaining, indeed strengthening, existing alliances today has only one purpose, to contain China
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2011-12/27/content_24258385.htm?du