US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta sought to reassure Beijing on Wednesday over Washington’s strategic tilt to the Pacific, telling a military audience it was not an attempt to curb Chinese power.
US President Barack Obama’s administration, concerned about China’s growing military and economic might, has called for a shift in its focus to the Asia region, with the US Navy planning to station most of its ships in the area.
But China has questioned whether the US military’s “pivot” was designed to confine Beijing.
“Our rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region is not an attempt to contain China. It is an attempt to engage China and expand its role in the Pacific,” Panetta said in the Chinese capital.
“It’s about creating a new model in the relationship of our two Pacific powers,” he told cadets at an armoured force engineering academy.
As the world’s two largest economies China and the US must forge stronger ties between their armies to avoid potential tensions, Panetta said.
“Our goal is to make sure that no dispute or misunderstanding escalates into unwanted tensions or a conflict,” Panetta said.