The first batch of an expected 2,500 US Marines to be deployed in Australia began work Wednesday as Washington bolsters its presence in a strategically vital region, to the irritation of China.
Some 200 Marines touched down in tropical Darwin overnight as part of an enhanced defence cooperation outlined during a visit by US President Barack Obama in November that rankled Beijing.
The troops are in the Northern Territory on a six-month rotational basis and will be based at Robertson Barracks on the outskirts of the city, building to some 2,500 by 2016-17.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson welcomed what they said was the latest chapter in a more than 60-year alliance with the US.
“It represents an evolution of existing exercises and activities that the United States already conducts with the Australian Defence Force in Australia,” they said.
“The intent in the coming years is to establish a rotational presence of up to a 2,500 personnel Marine Air Ground Task Force, rotating into Northern Australia in the northern dry season.
“There are no (permanent) US military bases in Australia, and this will not change,” they added.
The US military currently has only a limited deployment in long-standing ally Australia, including the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility spy station near Alice Springs.
The latest move represents a significant geo-strategic shift by Washington and it has irked Beijing, whose rapid rise is reorienting Asia’s balance. China has said the Marines deployment is proof of a “Cold War mentality”.
Wang Jisi, the influential dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, writes in a candid new study that a mistrustful China is convinced that the United States is bent on holding back its rise.
But the Marines deployment has reassured some Asian countries who see it as a statement that the United States intends to stand up for its allies and interests in the region.
And while the deployment appears to be sending a signal to China and its expanding military, the White House has also made clear it wants to extend its capability to deploy for disaster relief missions in Southeast Asia.
In the statement, Gillard said the Marines force was part of an ongoing US consideration of its global military posture, and she sought to soothe any regional concerns.
“It also supports Australia’s long-held strategic interests in supporting US engagement in our region in a manner that promotes peace and stability,” she said.
“The initiative could also provide new opportunities for Australian and US engagement with our partners in the region.”
Defence Minister Smith also reassured regional neighbours, suggesting Australia’s closest neighbour Indonesia and even China, Canberra’s most important trading partner, could be included in future joint exercises.
“Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he came out saying he thought it was a good thing,” Smith told ABC radio of the US deployment.
“And he also said that he saw the prospect of not just Australia, the United States and potentially Indonesia engaging in exercises but also the wider region including China,” he said, welcoming such a development.
As part of the major expansion of military ties, Australia last week said it may allow the United States to use its territory to operate long-range spy drones.
Washington could also reportedly station US aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered attack submarines in the western Australian city of Perth.
