"We will continue to plan for a broad range of military options should the President decide to use force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. Pursuant to that, we will maintain -" as we have maintained -" a robust force presence in the Gulf region."
-"We face additional challenges and opportunities elsewhere around the globe. We must continue to support local efforts to combat the extremist threat that emanates from places like Somalia, Yemen and North Africa."
-"In Europe, we will"implement a new NATO Strategic Concept by placing increased emphasis on cyber security, ballistic missile defense, and nonproliferation."
And, most saliently:
"In the response to an aggressive North Korea and a more assertive China, our efforts to balance risk have increasingly focused on Asia.
"We will be prepared to support and defend our freedom of navigation and access to the global commons. Our partners and allies are our greatest strategic asset in the region. We will work with them to conduct multilateral exercises and operations"." [23]
At the forefront of the Pentagon's strategic assets in the Asia-Pacific area and increasingly far beyond is Japan.
