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| Admiral Locklear (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki) |
The United States needs to watch “very carefully” the rise of the Chinese military and how it integrates into the regional security environment, a top American military commander told lawmakers amid apprehensions over its military build-up and increase in defence spending.
“I think we do have to watch very carefully how the China military rises, what they do with that military, and how that military is integrated into the security environment,” Admiral Samuel Locklear, the Commander of the US Pacific Command (PACOM), told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.
One of the aspects of the US re-balance to the Asia-Pacific region is to ensure that it has the “right force posture” and the “right force mixture” for the future so that they can reassure their allies, and the American people that their interests are protected over there, Locklear said.
China, he said, is neither a friend nor a foe at this time. “I consider them at this point in time in the terms of those two terms, neither,” Locklear said in reply to a question of Senator Lindsay Graham.
Read the full story at China Defense MashUp