US Pacific naval shift debated

A Chinese warship in a joint drill with Russia in April. (Photo/CNS)

With the third round of US-India strategic talks taking place in Washington on June 13, the United States is making grand gestures to re-enter Asia strategically. India apparently disagrees with a US containment policy of China at the expense of Sino-India relations, reports our sister newspaper China Times.

Before the bilateral talks, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the US is rebalancing towards the Asia-Pacific at the 11th IISS Asian Security Summit: The Shangri-la Dialogue on June 1.

Panetta said that the US is planning to move 60% of its fleet to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, the clearest indication yet of the new US strategy in Asia.

"By 2020, the navy will reposture its forces from today's roughly 50-50% split between the Pacific and the Atlantic to about a 60-40 split between those oceans," Panetta was quoted by the BBC as saying. It will include six aircraft carriers in this region, plus a majority of the country's cruisers, destroyers, combat ships and submarines, he added.

US magazine Foreign Policy and Indian newspaper Business Standard recently expressed doubts over the new US strategy to contain a rising China. The US simply has no chance of winning in a ship-to-ship duel in the event of conflict with China, said Robert Haddick, chief editor of American magazine Small Wars Journal, in an article in Foreign Policy.

Panetta played down any possible tensions and rejected the idea that the United States is shifting focus to the Asia-Pacific region as a challenge to China. The new involvement in Asia is fully compatible with the development and growth of China, he added.

Figures released by the US Department of Defense show that the US Navy owns 186 major conventional warships including aircraft carriers, cruisers, guided missile destroyers, amphibious ships, attack submarines and cruise missile submarines, of which 101 have been deployed to the Asia-Pacific area, which accounts for 54% of its naval power. An increase to 60% by 2020 means added warships.

However, the US Navy predicts that China may increase its major warships from 86 in 2009 to 106 by 2020, of which 72 will be attack submarines. The US plans to deploy only 29 attack submarines in the region by 2020.

Source :http://www.wantchinatimes.com