America’s militarisation of the Pacific should stop

If the United States wants to avoid strife in Asia, it should resist antagonizing China by encircling it with ever more military partners and bases.

True, China is bolstering its armed forces. Its military budget has risen 7.6 percent this year and grew at an average of 9.5 percent from 2005 to 2014 (it slowed this year along with China’s economy). China is turning reefs in contested waters into islands dotted with airstrips and radar towers. This year, China has flown its jets close to Japanese and American planes over the East China Sea; in recent years Chinese boats have rammed and sunkVietnamese vessels in the South China Sea. Still, the United States, with a military budget three times as large as China’s, pours far more resources into the Pacific region than Beijing.

Washington agreed recently to deploy missile-defense systems in South Korea, a response to North Korea’s nuclear program but also a provocation to Beijing. The United States will deploy 2,500 Marines to Darwin, Australia, and rotate troops through five military bases in the Philippines, despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-American rants.

Washington has signed new defense agreements with Vietnam and India, both of which have tense relationships with China. The United States military continues to deploy all manner of next-generation aircraft, destroyers and drones throughout the Pacific.

Even before Mr. Obama’s pivot, the American military presence in the region dwarfed China’s. Tens of thousands of American troops have been stationed in Japan and South Korea since the World War II era. Such troops occupy 28 percent of Guam. Washington also has a complex web of military alliances in Asia, surrounding China with countries buttressed by American security commitments.

The United States’ huge Pacific presence touches a nerve in Beijing in part because of memories of the so-called Century of Humiliation — from the first Opium War in 1839 to the end of the Communist Party revolution in 1949 — when Western powers and Japan ravaged and occupied China. Beijing’s leaders feel that as China vies to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy, their country has the right to be the main power in the neighborhood the United States should strengthen its educational and cultural-exchange programs in Asia, and consider other soft-power plays like development projects, technical knowledge transfer programs, and cooperation on nuclear power, like the successes in India and Vietnam.

A more nuanced approach to the Asia-Pacific region would allow the United States to pursue goals like democracy promotion and secure long-term stability. Too much focus on militarization is a recipe for conflict. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/opinion/washington-should-stop-militarizing-the-pacific.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0.