US navy ships at the International Mine Countermeasure Exercise (IMCMEX) in the Bahraini capital of Manama. (AFP file photo)

PANAJI: The United States plans to shift 60% of its navy into the Indo-Asia-Pacific region within the next two years, US navy officials said.

Speaking to reporters onboard the USS Blueridge on Monday, vice-admiral Joseph P Aucoin, commander, seventh fleet, said the US will look at keeping the sea lanes of communication open and also keep a check on North Korea. "The best and the brightest are being shifted to this part of the world. Almost 60% of our submarines are in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Within the next couple of years, 60% of our surface ships will be here too," said Aucoin. "North Korea is a threat. Our number one concern is to protect Japan, South Korea and our country," he added.

Aucoin said the US navy will deploy its top-of-the-line cruisers, destroyers as well as aircraft into the region.

" The centre for foreign relations will be forward-based in the Asia Pacific. The F35-B stealth aircraft will be over here next January, where it will be making a deployment on the USS Wasp and that platform will be replaced by the USS America, our newest amphibian (vessel). This goes to show that we really do mean shifting to the Pacific," the vice-admiral said.

The US' focus on the Indo-Asia Pacific region, Aucoin added, is due to it being the pathway to 90% of international trade. " We will work together with India and other countries in south-east Asia," he added.

Speaking to TOI, Lt Laurent Cole, spokesperson for the US Navy, said the government is working with 35 other maritime nations on this policy. "The Indo-Asia Pacific region is 1,24,000 sq km. We will be having a total of 40,000 personnel, including marines, of which 20,000 will be sailors," she said. In November 2011, Obama had announced that US presence in the Asia-Pacific a will be his top priority.

