U.S. Deploying Jets Around Asia to Keep China Surrounded -- John Reed, Killer Apps/Foreign Policy
The United States Air Force will dramatically expand its military presence across the Pacific this year, sending jets to Thailand, India, Singapore, and Australia, according to the service's top general in the region.
For a major chunk of America's military community, the so-called "pivot to Asia" might seem like nothing more than an empty catchphrase, especially with the Middle East once again in flames. But for the Air Force at least, the shift is very real. And the idea behind its pivot is simple: ring China with U.S. and allied forces, just like the West did to the Soviet Union, back in the Cold War.
U.S. military officials constantly say they aren't trying to contain China; they're working with the Chinese and other Pacific nations to "maintain stability" in the region. Still, a ring of bases looks an awful lot like something we've seen before.
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My Comment: In the entire Asian theater the U.S. military presence is just a blip .... but because of the bases that they occupy and how U.S. forces have been strategically positioned to rapidly supply these bases in the event of heightened tensions or conflict .... the U.S. presence is significant. As for what are the Chinese thinking .... they are concerned but not overly so. If anything .... from what I am reading in the Chinese press and from what my friends in China are telling me .... they believe that this U.S. pivot to Asia is going to be short-lived. They see the U.S. deficit and economic decline to be the real crisis, and they believe that eventually the U.S. will address this by cutting it's budget with the defense budget being the number one item to be cut .... a cut that will also include downgrading their military presence in Asia
Update: US is Encircling China with Fighter Jets and Stealth Bombers -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat
All it takes however, is one conflict by China with any of it's regional neighbors and the U.S would make funds available,despite economic problems. China knows it will have to contend with the U.S and they've accepted that fact, but it is China's neighbors that will be left to do most of the fighting should conflict break out with any one of those respected countries in question.
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