US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta is using his trip to Asia to bolster the credibility of Washington’s strategic alliances in north East Asia, especially with Japan and South Korea. Panetta, alongside his Japanese counterpart Yasuo Ichikawa, pulled no punches when talking to the Japanese press, affirming that he wanted to send a message that the ‘United States is and always will be a Pacific power.’ The Panetta’s visit to Japan is timely as the Obama administration aggressively continues to tilt its diplomatic weight towards the Asia-Pacific region after a decade of policies bogged down by counterterrorism and nation building in the Middle East and Central Asia. Japan is especially sensitive to Washington’s retrenchment from Asia as it watches an increasingly assertive China looking to dictate the strategic course of the continent’s future. Panetta sweetened the visit by also softening the Pentagon’s tone on the US military footprint at the Futenma Air Station ...
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