WASHINGTON, August 11. /TASS/. The United States plans to expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific and build a deterrence infrastructure, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby said.
"We are actively expanding our forward posture, accelerating the delivery of hard combat capabilities to the theater, and building out the physical architecture of a true denial defense," he said during a visit to the Philippines. The Department of War’s press service quoted the official as saying.
Colby said the US priority was to "field a fully operational, resilient architecture of denial defense stretching along the First Island Chain," from Malaysia to Japan. Washington plans to build infrastructure with regional partners to "sustain combat-credible power where it matters most" and, in particular, preposition additional forces and assets in the Western Pacific.
Colby stressed that "America is definitely not disengaging from Asia," but wanted its Indo-Pacific partners to take on greater responsibility for their defense. "When we ask our allies and partners to step up, to invest more in their own defense, and to take responsibility for their own sovereign security, we are not signaling abandonment," he said. "We are looking for partners, not protectorates," Colby added.
