Defense Secretary Robert Gates headed to Asia for a final time as Pentagon chief on Tuesday, looking to reassure allies that the United States is committed to regional security despite tightening defense budgets and his own imminent departure.
Gates, due to leave his post at the end of June, will meet his counterparts from Australia, China and other countries at the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore this weekend before traveling to Brussels for meetings with officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
With China boosting its level of representation at the Shangri-La forum, Gates’ meeting with Defense Minister Liang Guanglie will be watched closely for signs of further warming in civilian-military relations between the two countries after a series of high-level visits this year.
But Gates’ trip is mainly an effort by the Obama administration to show the United States remains committed to the region despite planned cutbacks in military spending and a change in the top leadership at the U.S. Defense Department.
“The critical message is that even as we look at potential budget reductions, there is no slackening of the U.S. commitment to our presence in Asia,” Gates told reporters during a stop in Hawaii. “We are a Pacific nation. … We will remain engaged and we will continue to build relationships with friends, partners and allies in Asia.”
A senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gates would discuss the commitment senior U.S. leaders have shown to Asia. He noted the repeated trips to the region by President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gates.
The official said Gates would underscore that Obama’s choice to succeed him — CIA Director Leon Panetta — will maintain a “continuity in U.S. policy” and that the U.S. approach has been “consistent for a long time in the region and does not depend on individuals.”
Gates’ departure from Obama’s Cabinet will be followed on Oct. 1 by that of Admiral Mike Mullen as chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. General James Cartwright also is stepping down as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Obama on Monday nominated Army General Martin Dempsey as his choice to succeed Mullen and named Admiral James Winnefeld to become vice chairman.
In addition to changes at the top of the U.S. defense establishment, U.S. allies in Asia have been unsettled by the prospect of significant cutbacks in defense spending as Obama tries to get a handle on the U.S. government’s $1.4 trillion budget deficit and $14.3 trillion in debt.
