- Outgoing commander has sought more funds and warned that the US is losing its military edge over China in the region

- But observers say it may be a challenge for America to sustain its push and some Southeast Asian nations fear getting caught in the middle

The United States is moving to boost its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, as President Joe Biden’s

administration shapes plans to contain China’s influence in the region.

But observers say it could be a challenge for the US to keep up its push for a military role in the Indo-Pacific

and that some Southeast Asian nations fear getting caught in the rivalry.

While the Pentagon is still assessing its China policy via a new 15-member task force , US military officials have hardened their stance in recent weeks, with calls for resources to be shifted to the Pacific to maintain a “competitive edge” over China, and defence chief Lloyd Austin naming the country as a “pacing threat”.

Admiral Philip Davidson, head of the Indo-Pacific Command, submitted a proposal to Congress in early March for US$27.3 billion in additional spending for new military construction and to boost cooperation with allies to maintain an edge over China, including US$4.6 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.

On Thursday, Major General Richard Coffman, director of the US Army’s Next-Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, said modern armoured vehicles would be needed should a land war with China erupt in the Pacific.

He made the comment at a webinar, days after General Xu Qiliang, second in command of China’s armed forces after President Xi Jinping, said the country needed to increase military spending to prepare for a war with the US.

“It’s not just about tanks, though China’s got plenty of them: 7,000 tanks and 3,000 infantry fighting vehicles – 10,000 vehicles that will be decisive if we are not there,” Coffman said at the webinar hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“In order to be decisive, we have to be there with armour to prevent the Chinese from getting into a position of relative advantage,” he said.

Most of the areas of operation under the US Indo-Pacific Command involve the navy, air force and marine corps – which opened its first new base since 1952 on Guam last year – but Coffman said land combat “will be the only component that will be decisive”.

His remarks came a day after Davidson, outgoing head of the Indo-Pacific Command, warned that the US was losing its military edge over China in the region.

The White House has nominated Admiral John Aquilino, head of the US Pacific Fleet, to take over the Indo-Pacific Command, which covers 36 countries and is described as “the single most consequential region for America’s future” in the Pentagon’s 2019 Indo-Pacific strategy report.

Kashish Parpiani, a research fellow with the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank in New Delhi, said the recent remarks by US military officials were “encouraging”, especially for those who were concerned the Biden administration would shift its emphasis away from the Indo-Pacific.

Parpiani said Davidson’s comments and Aquilino’s nomination may suggest the Biden administration intends to continue using freedom of navigation operations as “more than mere reactionary actions but instead as a fact of life indicative of the US Navy’s forward presence in the region”.

Under the Donald Trump administration, the US Navy stepped up freedom of navigation operations, particularly in the South China Sea to challenge Beijing’s expansive territorial claims in the strategically important waterway. Beijing has said the US patrols are destabilising the region.

According to Parpiani, Davidson’s push for extra funds for the region suggests the Pentagon may be seeking to “shore up US credibility ahead of the coming summer of the US Navy’s contest with Chinese fleets in the South China Sea”.

He also said it would be a challenge for the US to sustain a policy-level push for its military role in the region “not only in face of the decline in the political currency of American internationalism, but also in view of the Biden administration’s intent to cooperate with China on a range of global governance issues – from climate change to nuclear non-proliferation”.

Renato De Castro, a professor of international studies at De La Salle University in Manila, noted that while Davidson’s plan involved reinforcing the US military presence in Guam and Palau, it also stressed the need to increase ground-based weapons along the “first island chain”. The term is used by China to refer to an area linking Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines that Beijing regards as an important barrier of defence, especially against the US military presence.

De Castro also said there were concerns within Southeast Asia about nations getting “caught in the middle” of the rivalry between the US and China.