US forces and their allies in Asia are ready for battle after years of joint combat exercises, a US general said on Wednesday, adding that Russia’s setbacks in Ukraine should serve as a warning to potential Asian aggressors like China and North Korea.
US treaty allies like the Philippines, Japan and Australia, among others, “have shown that they will band together, that they will not stand for aggression from these nations that have decided they want to change the world order out here,” US Major General Joseph Ryan said.
Although Asia has no counterpart to NATO, the 30-nation military alliance whose mostly European members vow to defend each other against external attacks, a network of US treaty alliances and defense partnerships upholding the international order provides a regional safeguard, he said.
Photo: AP
“I’m personally very buoyed by what I see by our allies and partners in this region and the way we’ve come together in response to aggression by the PRC, by North Korea to say: ‘We will not let that stand,’” Ryan told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
Ryan, commanding general of the US Army’s 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii, is in Manila partly for talks with Philippine counterparts ahead of two annual large-scale combat exercises that would include live-fire exercises and ground, sea and air assault maneuvers involving thousands of US and Philippine troops next month and in April.
The Philippines, the US’ oldest treaty ally in Asia that used to host the largest US naval and air force bases outside the US mainland, has allowed larger numbers of visiting US forces to stay in rotating batches and preposition weapons and combat equipment in at least nine Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact.
The Philppine decision to allow a broader US military presence was announced during a visit last week to Manila by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
In the broader Asia-Pacific region, Washington has reinforced an arc of alliances to counter what it says are threats posed by an increasingly belligerent China and North Korea.
The US and the Philippines have agreed to hold about 500 small and major combat exercises this year, and expand annual military drills following disruptions caused by two years of COVID-19 lockdowns, Philippine military officials have said.
Asked if US forces and their Asian allies were ready to respond if a major crisis similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine breaks out in the region, Ryan said: “Absolutely.”
“I’m very comfortable that we’re ready, but that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied. We can always get better,” he said.
“I think our allies in the region value their sovereignty, value their freedom, value their independence. And no adversary should take that lightly,” Ryan said.
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