East of Suez
 

Somehow, I don't think so..........

Defense News: Panetta: NATO Needs to Join U.S. Rebalance to Asia-Pacific

LONDON — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called on NATO to become a more flexible fighting force that can tackle a broad range of conflicts and urged European allies to join the Pentagon’s shift to the Asia-Pacific region......

“Going forward, we also must broaden the scope of our alliance security discussions beyond European and regional issues,” Panetta said at Kings College. “In particular, I strongly believe that Europe should join the United States in increasing and deepening defense engagement with the Asia-Pacific region.”

As budgets tighten across the alliance, Panetta said there is a “window of opportunity to fundamentally reorient” NATO for the future.............

Panetta called on the alliance to broaden its partnerships with the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council and increase dialog with the African Union and Economic Community of West African States.

The Pentagon announced a new military strategy last year that calls for greater focus on the Asia-Pacific region. The plan was initially met with cries that the U.S. was abandoning its strongest allies in Europe.

Panetta — on his last leg of a trip that has included stops in Portugal, Spain and Italy – said DoD would continue keep its strong ties with Europe, despite scaling back its permanent presence in the region.

“[T]he United States and Europe should work together and ensure our efforts are coordinated through regular consultations between European and U.S. defense officials focused on Asia-Pacific security issues,” Panetta said. “The bottom line is that Europe should not fear our rebalance to Asia, Europe should join it.”

I wonder if he appreciates the irony...?

that s a set of wars they will have to fight with new allies - Japan, India etc etc

The US was always very keen to see the end of imperialism (especially in areas where they had an interest) - now they have to find new friends

SEATO? McNamara wanted Wilson to retain a strong presence east of Suez. I wonder if Panacota knew that?

We're still part of the FPDA, is that good enough?

Got me 2 weeks in Penang back in the late 80s. :ok:

something we'd all wish for....

I can't see what exactly we'd add in a fight against the Chinese TBH - we don't have a lot of troops, we have no bases there, no long range aircraft...........

This weeks Economist is quite worried about sabre rattling between Japan & China

Chinese army told: "be well-prepared for a war"

China could be preparing for war, according to the latest directive to the People's Liberation Army

Tone, to what would otherwise be a mere vulgar brawl?

(with due acknowledgements to Punch, circa 1895)

Archimedes, if you're meaning the sort of 'tone' displayed by the British when they last had a significant presence here - I'm thinking Singapore '42 - then I suspect the 'tone' you'll hear from the Chinese side is one of laughter.

HH

"especially in areas where they had an interest"

Have the US really had that much of an interest in Asia
apart from a few wars.


"we have no bases there, no long range aircraft........... "

I thought the US had a base in Japan ?

In any case, they always have Australia if they need to base
aircraft, we have quite a few big airfields in mothballs / with
low numbers of aircraft.

500N, how about "On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world."

Or

"The Eight Nation Alliance was made up of :: USA, UK, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, and Austria-Hungary.
Year : 1898 -1901 "

or

"On April 25, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain and the Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, ordered Dewey to attack the Spanish fleet in the Philippines. The Battle of Manila Bay was the first hostile engagement of the Spanish-American War. In the darkness before dawn, Commodore Dewey's ships passed under the siege guns on the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay and by noon on May 1, 1898 had destroyed the Spanish fleet."

"The Americans took possession of Manila on August 13, 1898. "

"The hostilities in the Philippine War of Independence began on February 4, 1899 and continued for two years. The United States needed 126,000 soldiers to subdue the Philippines. The war took the lives of 4,234 Americans and 16,000 Filipinos. As usually happens in guerrilla campaigns, the civilian population suffers the worst. As many as 200,000 civilians may have died from famine and disease."

Or

"In 1937, Japan went to war against China. As the war increased its scale, Japan advocated the construction of new order in East Asia and made its intention clear to establish a new world order in the region, which had Japan on top as a leader. As the US national interest in China was infringed by such attitude of Japan and the Washington government was provoked, and an imposition of economic sanction against Japan started to be discussed to restrain Japan’s aggression "

So I think you can see that the US interest is longstanding and consistent and is largely one of trade.

PN

Thank you, I stand corrected :ok:

No, I'm making a reference to an 1895 Punch cartoon (which is reasonably well-known in British military circles, but admittedly not exactly the most famous one ever printed) using it to make a sideways comment about the doubtful utility of our presence in a future war against China. The clue being in the footnote acknowledging an 1895 cartoon, so as to ensure that no-one could possibly believe that I was making a serious point rather than a sarcastic one. Or so I thought...

500N - to add to PN's point, if you look at the US 'Open Door' policy toward China, and the way in which the communist victory in the revolution was portrayed - 'the loss of China', then you can see just how important the area has been to the US.

A base in Singapore should do wonders for recruiting!:)

Archimedes, not being 'in British military circles' nor an avid reader of the 1895 edition of Punch I completely missed the subtle nature of your comment. My mistake. Please forgive me.

I think you're being too harsh when assessing your likely utility should things go pear-shaped in Asia. You could have your chaps bring along some copies of Punch, then rather than laughing at you we'd both be laughing at the same thing :-)

500N - by "us" not having bases in the Far East I was referring to the Europeans who ORAC seemed to think might be coming to help in a future Far East war

Lovely!!! :D:D:D

Frederick II of Prussia, if you can believe wikipedia

That depends upon your perspective. Bowling or batting?