The military elements underpinning the US tilt back towards the Asian region are fast moving into place.
While the headlines surrounding the so-called pivot involve future big-ticket deployments -new US coastal fighting ships to Singapore, 60 per cent of all US naval assets in the Pacific by 2020 and the eventual posting of 2,500 marines to northern Australia - lesser noticed moves show the shift is well under way. And it is already expanding in scope and reach.
Recent moves in the Philippines, Vietnam, Guam, Myanmar and even New Zealand are all being closely watched by Chinese diplomats and the military.
'The US says over and over that it does not want to contain China, but their actions are sending a different message than their words,' said one PLA strategist recently. 'The pivot is all about China.'
Military planners on both sides know that such long-term shifts take place over decades, rather than specific US election cycles - meaning renewed US interest in the region will be a factor for years.
'Behind all the headlines of the pivot, some people forget that the US has always been in Asia anyway,' said one senior Pentagon planner. 'What we are doing is essentially recalibrating our assets and relationships for the future.'
That traditional presence - which includes the 7th Fleet based in Japan and some 27,000 personnel in South Korea - has long meant that the US is the most powerful military power in Asia.
