The US is reviewing its military deployment in other countries so that it can appropriately counter the threat posed by China to other Asian countries, US secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the Brussels Forum 2020 of the German Marshall Fund held via video conferencing.
China's People's Liberation Army has started to pose as a threat to countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the US wants its military to be 'postured appropriately', he said.
"We're going to make sure we're postured appropriately to counter the PLA. We think that the challenge of our times, and we're going to make sure we have resources in place to do that," Pompeo said.
The US President Donald Trump has directed for the review of the force posture and as a part that the number of US troops in Germany has been reduced from about 52,000 to 25,000.
"In certain places there will be fewer American resources... To the extent that that changed, the difference in what the US decided to do impacts adversely a threat some place, it may be that other nations need to step up and take responsibility for their own defense in ways that they hadn't done previously. So, we want to do this in full consultation with all of our partners all around the world, and certainly our friends in Europe," Pompeo said.
It has been a long time since there has been a strategic review of our force posture all across the world. The US undertook that starting about 2.5 years ago, whether that was our forces in Africa, our forces in Asia, the force we have in the Middle East and in Europe, he said.
Last week, Pompeo criticised the Chinese Army describing the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) as a "rogue actor" for its heightened militarising strategic at the South China Sea. He also blamed them for creating tensions with India at the border.
China has been fast expanding military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific region, triggering concerns everywhere.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea, both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are vital to global trade.
