US not disengaging from Asia, seeks ‘partners, not protectorates,’ says Pentagon official

The United States is not disengaging from Asia and is instead “digging in” to maintain a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, but wants its partners to shoulder more responsibility for their defense, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday.

Seeking to counter concerns about Washington’s reliability, Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of Defense for Policy, reiterated the U.S. interest in the region as he called for greater burden-sharing and “partnership, not dependency.”

“America is definitely not disengaging from Asia,” Colby said in a speech in Manila. “We are not leaving; in fact, we are digging in, to ensure a favourable balance of power where it matters most.”

The Philippines, the United States’ oldest treaty ally in Asia, is the first stop on a Southeast Asian trip that also will take Colby to Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia.

Colby said maintaining a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific required a “posture of deterrence by denial along the First Island Chain” and pointed to what he said was a growing U.S. military commitment in the region.

The First Island Chain refers to an area stretching from Japan down to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo.

The strategy could not rest on American forces alone, he said, arguing that allies should invest more in their security.

“When we ask our allies and partners to step up, to invest more in their own defense, and to take responsibility for their own sovereign security, we are not signaling abandonment,” Colby said. “We are looking for partners, not protectorates.”

“When our partners are strong, deterrence is strong,” he added.

一位五角大楼高级官员周一表示，美国不会从亚洲撤军，反而会“巩固阵地”，以维持在印太地区的有利力量平衡，但希望其伙伴承担更多国防责任。

为了消除人们对华盛顿可靠性的担忧，国防部负责政策的副部长埃尔布里奇·科尔比重申了美国在该地区的利益，并呼吁加大责任分担力度，建立“伙伴关系，而不是依赖关系”。

科尔比在马尼拉的演讲中说：“美国绝不会从亚洲撤军。我们不会离开；事实上，我们正在加强投入，以确保在最关键的领域保持有利的力量平衡。”

菲律宾是美国在亚洲历史最悠久的条约盟友，也是科尔比东南亚之行的第一站，科尔比还将前往印度尼西亚、泰国和柬埔寨。

科尔比表示，在印太地区维持有利的权力平衡需要“沿着第一岛链采取拒止威慑姿态”，并指出美国在该地区的军事投入正在不断增加。

第一岛链指的是从日本一直延伸到台湾、菲律宾和婆罗洲的区域。

他表示，这项战略不能仅仅依靠美国军队，盟友应该在自身安全方面投入更多资源。

科尔比说：“当我们要求盟友和伙伴加大力度，增加国防投入，并承担起维护自身主权安全的责任时，我们并非是在发出放弃的信号。我们寻求的是合作伙伴，而不是保护国。”

“当我们的合作伙伴强大时，威慑力也就强大，”他补充道。