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| US set to base Marines in Australia |
| 2011-11-11 |
| US President Barack Obama will use a visit to Australia next week to announce that America will station Marines in Darwin, ministers indicated Friday, in a sign of heightened concern about China. The Sydney Morning Herald said that the new permanent military presence had been under consideration for some years as Washington looks to boost its Pacific Command, and senior Australian politicians did not deny the plan. The US currently has only a limited deployment in longstanding ally Australia, including the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility spy station near Alice Springs, and the move represents a potentially significant geo-strategic shift. "It is important to wait for the president to visit Australia and for him and the prime minister to confirm what further defence cooperation arrangements we may have planned," said Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. He added: "It has always made national security sense to have a strong security alliance with America." Pentagon spokesman George Little declined comment, saying only: "Australia is an American friend and ally, and we will continue to work together to foster even stronger military ties with one another." The US will not be building a new base in the city, but instead will reportedly use the existing Robertson Barracks nearby. The facility is currently home to some 4,500 Australian soldiers and will need to be expanded to cater for the US Marines, the paper said, citing sources who declined to detail how many troops or sailors would be rotating through. The plan would intensify the 60-year military alliance between the two countries, which has played a crucial part in anchoring the American influence in Asia. In a speech to a national security workshop Friday, Defence Minister Stephen Smith said: "This would potentially see more ship visits, more visiting aircraft and more training and exercising through northern Australia." It would also include "the pre-positioning of United States equipment in Australia", he added. |
| Posted by:Sherry |