New U.S. military strategy reflects concerns about rise of China

TEHRAN, Jan. 16 (MNA) -- U.S. President Barack Obama recently announced that his government will soon unveil a new military strategy that switches focus to the Asia-Pacific region. The new focus shows that the United States fears the rise of China, which has enjoyed considerable economic growth over the past ten years. The new strategy is also regarded as an attempt to reduce the huge cost of U.S.-NATO military adventures, which skyrocketed over the past 10 years and which has been a major factor behind the massive economic recession in the United States. The United States’ disproportionate funding of NATO operations has also created many concerns among U.S. citizens. Over the past two years, the White House has repeatedly told other NATO members that they must increase their share in financing the military organization and that the U.S. is no longer able to increase its share of the funding. However, without the U.S. funding, NATO will have great difficulty in modernizing its ever-expanding structure. Meanwhile, Obama’s recent decision to station 2500 U.S. Marines in Australia has provoked a sharp response from Beijing, which accused Obama of escalating military tensions in the region. The move indicates that the U.S. government wants to start playing in China’s backyard. It also sends a clear message to other NATO members that Washington has decided to act independently in its overseas military operations because it can no longer fund joint adventures. The new strategy’s focus on East Asia is a sharp turnaround from the previous strategy, which was centered on the Middle East. The new strategy makes it clear that the U.S. military will continue to have a presence in the Middle East, but the ground forces will no longer be large enough to conduct prolonged, large-scale counterinsurgency campaigns like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This shows that Obama is seeking an exit strategy from the grinding wars he inherited from the Bush administration and wants to rely more on naval and air power in the Pacific as a counterbalance to China. In other words, the new U.S. military doctrine will focus on keeping China’s rising military power under close control. The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has also raised concerns that Pyongyang and Beijing will strengthen their relations. The switch of focus to the Asia-Pacific region shows that the White House is very concerned about these issues.