WASHINGTON – The United States has sent its top diplomat overseeing foreignmilitary sales to pitch American weaponry at the largest air show in Asia,amid concerns in Washington over China’s growing influence in the region.By creating fear of China and calling it an expansionist threat to AsianNations US will be selling weapons worth billions of dollars to Asia.
Ambassador Tina Kaidanow will lead a delegation of senior US officials atthe Singapore Air Show to be held February 6-10. The attendance of Kaidanowin the air show, described as the most important in the Asia Pacificregion, is aimed at promoting US weapons manufacturers.
Kaidanow told reporters Monday that the American delegation will do”everything we can” to encourage Southeast Asian governments to purchasearms like F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp and missile manufacturedby Raytheon Co.
The push comes as the administration of President Donald Trump is nearingcompletion of a new “Buy American” initiative that calls for a more activerole by US diplomats and military attaches in overseas sales.
Kaidanow will be playing that role as the principal deputy assistantsecretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
In a statement, the State Department said Kaidanow “will hold consultationson defense trade issues and promote more than 150 US companies and tradeorganizations exhibiting the latest aerospace technologies.”
Singapore could serve as the test case for Trump’s new strategy of havingthe Pentagon and State Department get more involved in securing armscontracts.
“They will be able to use our equipment for maritime domain awareness, formaritime security … that’s important for them,” said Kaidanow, whovisited Hanoi last week.
The assurance came shortly after Defense Secretary James Mattis announcedplans to send an aircraft carrier to Vietnam, which has been in a disputewith Beijing over territory in the South China Sea.
Beijing will likely view the new initiative by Washington as an effort toboost China’s rivals in the region. The US exported $49.5 billion ofaerospace and military products to Asia Pacific in 2016, according to databy the US Department of Commerce.
The Trump administration in December revealed a new national securitystrategy that placed an emphasis on countering China.
China has also been irked by a Pentagon document, released Friday, whichwarns the US nuclear arsenal is becoming obsolete and no longer aneffective deterrent against potential threats from China and Russia.
The 74-page Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) argues that developing smallernuclear weapons would challenge that assumption.
Beijing expressed firm opposition to the Pentagon’s review of US nuclearpolicy, urging Washington to drop its “Cold War mentality.”
Beijing also said that it would “resolutely stick to peaceful developmentand pursue a national defense policy that is defensive in nature.”