Pentagon chief Austin embarks on his last Asia visit amid uncertainty

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will travel to the Indo-Pacific Friday, his 12th and final trip to the region America has long said is its top priority and home to its main rival: China.

While there, he will visit a bevy of U.S. allies and meet with colleagues on what amounts to a farewell tour. In his time as secretary, Austin has led a renaissance for American forces around the region. The Pentagon is now partnering with more countries and working closer with its longtime allies.

That list includes many of the countries Austin will visit in the coming week: in particular the Philippines and Australia, where he will join a counterpart from Japan. He will also attend a meeting of regional defense ministers in Laos and on the way back become the first U.S. secretary of defense to visit Fiji, where American officials are negotiating a deal to allow military access.

Through this larger and more tight-knit group of partners, the U.S. hopes to build and maintain weapons closer to China’s shores, while also spreading out its forces in the region, thus making them harder to target.

“Secretary Austin has done things that you look at and say, five years ago, that would have been unimaginable,” a senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters before the trip.

Despite the celebration, Austin’s arrival will also come at a moment of uncertainty in what he has helped build. Donald Trump’s reelection as U.S. president last week, along with the outcome of Japan’s general election the month before, marks the first round of major political change that could disrupt countries in the region unified by their concerns over China, which in recent years has grown stronger and more aggressive toward its neighbors.

Pentagon officials have long maintained that their view of China, and the need to compete with it, has bipartisan commitment. But Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth, a veteran and Fox News host without Washington experience, is a reminder that the incoming president can stray from the political mainstream.

“I don’t think anybody’s going to object to these posture changes. Now there may be discussions about the level of burden sharing that’s ongoing in those relationships,” said Zack Cooper, who studies American alliances in Asia at the American Enterprise Institute.

In particular, Trump has questioned America’s commitment to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China considers part of its rightful territory. U.S. policy is deliberately ambiguous on whether it would defend Taiwan during an invasion, leaving the choice to the president.

Taipei is on track to spend around 2.6% of its GDP on defense and has billions of dollars worth of American arms on order, but Trump and some of his advisers have said its budget needs to rise.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀将于周五前往印太地区，这将是他第 12 次也是最后一次访问该地区。美国长期以来一直将该地区视为其首要任务，而该地区也是其主要竞争对手——中国的所在地。

访问期间，他将走访众多美国盟友，并与同事会面，这实际上是一次告别之旅。奥斯汀担任国防部长期间，领导了美国在该地区军事力量的复兴。五角大楼现在正与更多国家建立伙伴关系，并与长期盟友加强合作。

这份名单包括奥斯汀下周将要访问的许多国家，特别是菲律宾和澳大利亚，他将与日本国防部长会晤。他还将出席在老挝举行的地区国防部长会议，并在回程途中成为首位访问斐济的美国国防部长，美国官员正在与斐济就一项允许美军进入该国的协议进行谈判。

通过这个规模更大、联系更紧密的合作伙伴集团，美国希望在中国海岸附近建造和维护武器，同时分散其在该地区的力量，从而使其更难成为攻击目标。

一位不愿透露姓名的高级国防官员在出行前告诉记者：“奥斯汀部长做了一些事情，你看看，五年前这些事情是不可想象的。”

尽管人们为此欢欣鼓舞，但奥斯汀的到来也正值他所参与构建的事业面临不确定性之际。上周唐纳德·特朗普连任美国总统，以及此前一个月日本大选的结果，标志着一系列重大政治变革的第​​一轮，这些变革可能会扰乱该地区各国因担忧中国而团结一致的局面。近年来，中国日益强大，对邻国也更加咄咄逼人。

五角大楼官员长期以来一直坚称，他们对中国的看法以及与中国竞争的必要性得到了两党的支持。但特朗普提名皮特·赫格塞斯——一位缺乏华盛顿经验的资深福克斯新闻主持人——提醒人们，即将上任的总统可能会偏离政治主流。

“我认为没有人会反对这些姿态的改变。现在可能会就这些关系中持续存在的责任分担程度展开讨论，”美国企业研究所研究美国在亚洲联盟的扎克·库珀说道。

尤其值得一提的是，特朗普质疑美国对台湾的承诺。台湾是一个自治岛屿，但中国认为它是其领土的一部分。美国在台湾是否应遭入侵的问题上刻意保持模糊，将决定权留给了总统。

台北计划将国内生产总值的 2.6% 左右用于国防，并已订购价值数十亿美元的美国武器，但特朗普及其一些顾问表示，台北的国防预算需要增加。

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。