For Washington, the Asia-Pacific serves less as a partner than as a resource to be controlled—the workshop of the world economy and the battleground for its geopolitical dominance. US wealth and security rest on unhindered passage through strategic chokepoints like the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea, which together carry some 60 percent of American trade. By underwriting nearly half of global GDP growth, East and Southeast Asia have become indispensable to US interests, prompting successive administrations to pour diplomatic, financial, and military capital into reinforcing a “rules-based order” that, in practice, preserves American supremacy. As competition with other powers intensifies, this commitment amounts not to mutual prosperity but to a relentless effort to cement US hegemony—often at the expense of regional autonomy, local voices, and long-term stability.
By 2024, US defense outlays had climbed 5.7 percent to $997 billion—roughly 37 percent of global military expenditure. That windfall has funded everything from stealth fighters and advanced submarines to missile defenses and long-range strike systems. Meanwhile, America’s web of forward bases—from Australia’s Darwin to Guam, Okinawa, and Diego Garcia—has expanded, as have rotational deployments of carrier strike groups and expeditionary brigades. Central to this build-out is the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, whose $9.1 billion FY 2024 budget (a 40 percent increase over FY 2023) supports hardened, dispersed bases, bolsters missile-warning networks, and sharpens overall force posture across Guam, Hawai‘i, Japan, Australia, and allied territories.
The US military keeps its reach sharp through an unceasing sequence of exercises. In West Asia, Eager Lion 24 in Jordan convened 33 nations for command-post war games, live fires, and hybrid-threat drills. Soon after, IMX 25 in the Arabian Gulf and surrounding waters brought together over 5,000 sailors and marines from around 30 countries for maritime interdiction, anti-smuggling operations, and unmanned-systems testing. South Asia’s Yudh Abhyas 2024 in Rajasthan saw US and Indian troops launching HIMARS rockets and conducting counter-terror and disaster-relief scenarios. Southeast Asia’s flagship events—Cobra Gold in Thailand and Balikatan in the Philippines—drew upwards of 14,000 personnel for live-fire drills, amphibious landings, and humanitarian missions. Even remote corners of Central Asia host Steppe Eagle, pairing US Army Central with regional guards in peace-support drills. On the Korean Peninsula, Ulchi Freedom Guardian and Keen Sword showcase multi-domain defense and rapid runway repair. Finally, RIMPAC off Hawai‘i and Guam stands as the region’s largest maritime exercise, uniting 29 navies in amphibious assaults, live fires, and security operations.
American force enhancements in the Asia–Pacific ripple outward. In 2024, Japan raised its defense budget by 21 percent to $55.3 billion—1.4 percent of GDP—citing growing threats and alliance commitments. South Korea edged its spending up to $47.6 billion, and Taiwan to $16.5 billion, as Chinese naval and air activities ramped up. Australia boosted its 2025 allocation by around 5 percent to just under $50 billion, while Singapore announced an 8 percent jump to about $15 billion. India approved a 7 percent rise for 2025, largely for U.S.-origin fighter jets and coastal radars. Vietnam and Malaysia signaled 4 percent hikes each to enhance naval assets interoperable with U.S. and regional partners. The Philippines amplified its 2025 defense allocation by 12.3 percent to 271.9 billion pesos (approx. $4.65 billion), citing the need to modernize under its Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept amid South China Sea tensions. Each government frames these hikes as necessary for deterrence and interoperability with U.S. forces.
Yet, forward basing and rotational deployments provoke friction at home. Local pushback has intensified across multiple nations. In South Korea, residents near Camp Humphreys and Kunsan Air Base turned out en masse in Pyeongtaek in late 2024, demanding quieter flight routes and tighter environmental safeguards. In the Philippines, grassroots movements have stepped up protests against the Marcos administration’s decision to grant expanded U.S. access to local bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, denouncing foreign troops’ legal immunity and the environmental damage from fuel leaks and live-fire drills. Even in Australia’s Northern Territory, Indigenous elders and local campaigners rallied in early 2025 against broader U.S. use of Darwin’s naval facilities, warning that sacred sites and fishing grounds were at risk. Across the Asia–Pacific, these movements now call not merely for reforms but for the outright removal of U.S. bases and the full restoration of national sovereignty.
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