Miller Acting US Defense Secretary Makes Consecutive ASEAN Visits... Containing China with Indo-Pacific Strategy

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] President Donald Trump dismissed Defense Secretary Mark Esper and appointed Christopher Miller as acting U.S. Secretary of Defense. Miller has made consecutive visits to Indonesia and the Philippines to engage in bilateral defense cooperation based on the 'Indo-Pacific Strategy' aimed at countering China.

According to the Associated Press and others on the 7th, the Indonesian Ministry of Defense reported that at 10 a.m. that day, Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia's Defense Minister, met with Acting Secretary Miller to discuss bilateral defense cooperation. Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that Acting Secretary Miller would visit ASEAN countries including Indonesia to discuss the 'Indo-Pacific Strategy' concept to counter China.

Following his visit to Indonesia, Acting Secretary Miller is scheduled to travel to the Philippines and participate in the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), held virtually on the 10th.

Acting Secretary Miller's visit to ASEAN is interpreted as a move to further concretize the Indo-Pacific Strategy concept that the U.S. government has been focusing on. This concept is likely to continue from the Trump administration into the Biden administration.

The U.S. Congress has already established a new item called the 'Pacific Deterrence Initiative' in next year's defense budget, allocating $2.2 billion (approximately 2.4 trillion won). The Washington Post (WP) quoted Bonnie Glaser, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, on the 6th (local time), analyzing that "Congress is sending a clear signal to the Biden administration to advance efforts to counter China."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.