SINGAPORE: The United States is stepping up its military engagement in the Asia-Pacific region to counter-balance the rise of China, and to confront the threat from terrorism, analysts said on Monday.

As the centre of geopolitical gravity shifts from Europe to Asia, Washington is reviewing its security alliances with key Asian partners including Japan, South Korea and Australia, and forging new ties with India and other emerging powers.

“What has been clearly seen out of these reviews is that America is not retreating,” said General Paul V. Hester, Hawaii-based commander of US Pacific Air Forces.

“America is not withdrawing from the Pacific. Instead, you are seeing... that America is turning more and more of its side picture toward the Pacific,” Hester told a conference in conjunction with Asian Aerospace, the world’s third-biggest airshow which begins here Tuesday.

In one example of that shift, the US Navy has decided that a second aircraft carrier battle group should focus on the Asia Pacific region, Hester said.

After a struggle over whether to station the carrier group in Guam or Hawaii, a decision was made to base the carrier at a mainland US port.

“But it will focus its attention this way,” he said.

A carrier group has been based in Japan for many years.

There have been concerns that Washington has focused more on the Middle East and the fight against terrorism following the September 11, 2001 attacks which killed about 3,000 people in the United States.

Without naming any countries, Hester said there has been a “revitalisation” of military capabilities in Asia but Washington’s move to strengthen its engagement should not be seen as a threat.

Hester said containment of any country was no longer US policy. But he cited North Korea and said vestiges of the Cold War remained in Asia.

Containment was the term given to the Cold War US policy of countering the Soviet Union.

With the region facing lingering security challenges including North Korea, the Taiwan Straits, China-Japan tensions, terrorism, insurgency and maritime security, it is in Australia’s interest for the United States to remain regionally engaged, said Peter Abigail, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“The continuing engagement of the United States in the affairs of Asia, particularly in the management of flashpoints, is a critical element in the maintenance of stability,” Abigail told the conference.

With many regional nations conceding a “regional superpower status” to China, the US attitude towards Beijing “is perhaps the most important factor” in maintaining regional peace and stability, Abigail said.

How the United States deals with Beijing is of particular interest to the region as China has emerged as a major export market for Asian goods, analysts said.—AFP