Asserting that it will maintain its substantial presence in the Asia Pacific region, the US yesterday said it wants to work with China to foster peace and security in the region.

“We have made clear to the Chinese directly in Beijing that we plan to maintain that presence, and we want to work with the Chinese to foster peace and security in the region.

“That’s been a core theme of all of our discussions with the Chinese, and we welcome further engagement and transparency with the government of China,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told reporters.

“We have been very clear about what our goals and objectives are. We have long-standing partnerships and traditional alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, and we will sustain those,” Little said in response to a question.

However, he denied reports that US posture in the Asia Pacific region is targeted towards China.

“I’m not sure that I can definitively tie Chinese modernisation efforts to our defence strategy. Again, we’ve had a presence in the Asia-Pacific region for a long time,” Little said.

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