US to maintain edge in Asia-Pacific

WASHINGTON – Adm. Samuel Locklear, head of the US Pacific Command, said America will continue to build and buy the most advanced defensive and offensive military weapons systems to maintain its edge in the Indo-Asia Pacific, which he described as the most militarized region in the world.

He said there were now many weapons developers in the world including China, and America’s unrivaled  superiority after World War II was being challenged by the rapid technological advancement of warfare capabilities and the proliferation of these capabilities.

“That’s not something to be afraid of; it’s just to be pragmatic about it,” he told a Pentagon press conference on Thursday.

“As I look globally at China, I think there are some positive aspects of how they’re using their military forces in a productive way,” he said.

However, with regard to Chinese activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, it’s yet to be determined how that will play out.

“China needs to coexist in that part of the world with our allies and with our militaries and we need to work together for mutual security,” Locklear said.   

“I think they’re going to have to work hard to get through some of the issues, the territorial disputes they’re having with their neighbors. And you know we don’t take sides on the territorial disputes, but we do expect them to be done peacefully,” he said.

Locklear said the US did not agree with or acknowledge China’s imposition of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea “and we will continue to operate in international airspace and do our operations, just as we do anywhere else in the world, not just in this part of the world.”

“In the end, the US military, my forces in the Pacific area of responsibility, will operate freely in international waters, international airspace. That’s the bottom line. We will operate there. And we’ll operate professionally, and we’ll operate peacefully for the purpose of peace. And that’s the message to all the militaries that are operating in that region,” he said.

Locklear said PACOM’s assistance to the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda demonstrated the overall value of working together on humanitarian assistance/disaster relief-related training and initiatives.

Referring to an incident last December in the South China Sea in which the US Navy guided-missile ship Cowpens took evasive action to avoid colliding with Chinese Navy ship Liaoning, Locklear said this highlighted to the People’s Liberation Army and US military “that we have to do better at being able to communicate with each other in a way that allows us (to avoid) a miscalculation that won’t be productive in the security environment.”  â€“ Jaime Laude, Alexis Romero, AP