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US pivot to Asia policy 'completely hollow, a retired US military commander says

Tuesday, 07 April 2015 6:28 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 07 April 2015 6:30 PM ]

The Obama administration’s policy to rebalance its focus from the Middle East toward Asia and the Pacific is a “completely hollow” strategy.

The Obama administration’s policy to rebalance its focus from the Middle East toward Asia and the Pacific is a “completely hollow” strategy aimed at distracting attention from US difficulties elsewhere, a retired US Army commander says.

“The entire pivot to Asia that includes this new information about this renewal of the [Asia pivot] plan is completely hollow,” said Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, a senior fellow at both the London Center for Policy Research and the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS).

“The whole concept has no real merit regarding strategy or strategic thinking,” Shaffer told Press TV on Tuesday. “It is a way of the Pentagon trying to distract attention from the problems in the Middle East.”

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter will be making his first official trip to Japan and South Korea this week to revive the so-called Asia “pivot” strategy amid China’s rapid military modernization.

Carter will leave from Washington on Monday to Japan, and later to South Korea for talks aimed at "strengthening and modernizing America's alliances in Northeast Asia," according to a Pentagon statement.

Carter was a supporter of what the Obama administration calls its “rebalance” to Asia while he was serving as the deputy secretary of defense.

The Obama administration is trying to keep its focus on a widely advertised shift to Asia, which it has pursued since 2011. The White House argues that no region is more important to the United States’ long-term interests than Asia.

A new assessment released Thursday by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argues that the Obama administration’s Asia pivot has not been successful and American power and influence in the region has been declining.

AHT/GJH

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