The new head of the US Indo-Pacific Command has expressed strong caution against China and indicated his intention to step up cooperation with allies to enhance deterrence in the region.
Admiral Samuel Paparo was speaking in Hawaii on Friday at a change of command ceremony to succeed Admiral John Aquilino.
Paparo said the US Indo-Pacific Command must be ready to answer China's "increasingly intrusive and expansionist plans" in the Indo-Pacific region. He said it will work in concert with allies and partners to preserve the free and open Indo-Pacific.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also spoke at the ceremony.
Austin said China is "the only country with both the will and, increasingly, the capacity to dominate the Indo-Pacific and to reshape the global order to suit its autocratic vision." He said that is why China remains his department's "pacing challenge."