Expert Panel Tells Lawmakers U.S. Needs to Do More to Counter Chinese Pacific Expansion
By: John Grady
September 24, 2020 6:19 PM
Palau’s recent offer to permit the United States to build bases and airfields could provide a model for Washington to use to counter China’s territorial claims in the Pacific, a senior security expert told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
“Washington should seek new allies and partners,†Elbridge Colby, co-founder of the Marathon Initiative, told the HASC. “Focus on states with shared threat perceptions [like China]. This is true whether they are democracies are not,†like Vietnam.
Christine Wormuth, director of RAND’s international security and defense policy center, added that Palau’s offer shows “we need to diversify†our basing to counter China. The move to spread out basing would build resiliency in case of attack and complicate Chinese targeting. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has made basing in the Indo-Pacific a priority over the past year and re-emphasized the importance of having regional allies and partners at the recent 75th anniversary of the end of World War II ceremony aboard USS Missouri (BB-63) earlier this month.
https://news.usni.org/2020/09/24/expert-panel-tells-lawmakers-u-s-needs-to-do-more-to-counter-chinese-pacific-expansion
