Obama Increases Military Presence in Australia

Obama will be adding more troops to Australia over the next year, but it doesn't have anything to do with fearing China, he explained in a joint conference with the Australian Prime Minister.

Obama will be adding more troops to Australia over the next year, but it doesn't have anything to do with fearing China, he explained in a joint conference with the Australian Prime Minister. The president said, "We welcome a rising, peaceful China," but the plan will place more Marines at bases located in Australia, as The Wall Street Journal details:

Under the military agreement, Marines will rotate through existing Australian bases for joint training and exercises. The force will begin at 250 Marines, growing over several years into a full 2,500-person Marine Air Ground Task Force. Officials said the Marine deployment would come from existing forces and not require new spending.

The plan was also seen as a way to reassure allies and show that any domestic budget belt-tightening wasn't going to affect our national security priorities, according to Reuters:

[S]ome Asian nations are likely to welcome the U.S. move as a counterbalance to China's growing military power, especially its expanding maritime operations, and a reassurance that Washington will not scale back its engagement in the region due to a stretched U.S. military budget.