By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR
WASHINGTON: The much-debated “pivot to Asia” works even in the face of sequestration and is reassuring our Pacific allies that we will stand behind them, the Navy’s most senior officer said on his return from the region. “Our budget situation is tough, [but] it’s not going to stop the rebalance,” pledged Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, in a speech Tuesday night at Washington’s Willard Hotel. What’s next, he said, is to take old alliances to the next level in northeast Asia, build new relationships in southeast Asia, and, most challenging of all, come to a better understanding with our potential adversary, China.
When Greenert talked to partner nations on a previous trip, he said, “the question sort of was, ‘Are you guys going to be here?… You’re writing this new strategy and we’re a little anxious.’” That strategy was the Defense Strategic Guidance (PDF), issued January 2012, which said the US “will of necessity rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region,” and the Pentagon has made some effort to put ships, aircraft, and marines behind those words.
Now, on this latest trip, “I didn’t catch any of that [uncertainty],” Greenert went on. “The question became, ‘Good, you’re here; we see that. What’s next?’”
Read the full story at Breaking Defense