Warrior Weekly: Austin in Singapore, Ukraine Needs Ammo, Finland Arms F-35s

By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III called the US a Pacific nation and stressed the overwhelming importance that Asia has in a visit to Singapore.

Plus, he got in a good shot at Russia in a response to a Chinese army officer that was well-received by the audience at the Shangri-La Dialogue last week.

“Let me be clear. The United States can be secure only if Asia is secure,” Austin said. “That’s why the United States has long maintained our presence in this region. And that’s why we continue to make the investments necessary to meet our commitments to our allies and partners.”

The US has been strengthening ties with its Pacific allies in order to counter the growing threat from China. Among them, the Pentagon is working with Japan to build a glide phase interceptor to defend against hypersonic weapons. It’s also co-producing fighter jet engines and armored vehicles with India, and working closer with Japan and South Korea to share early-warning data on North Korean missiles in real time.

And then there was that exchange with a colonel from China’s People Liberation Army, who blamed the invasion of Ukraine on the US and its allies.

Austin responded by saying, “I respectfully disagree with your point that the expansion of NATO caused the Ukraine crisis. The Ukraine crisis obviously was caused because Mr. Putin made a decision to unlawfully invade his neighbor.”

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