Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned U.S. Naval Academy graduates today that they “must be prepared to confront any challenge” posed by China’s growing military.
“China’s military is growing and modernizing,” Panetta said during his commencement address to the U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2012 today. “We must be vigilant, we must be strong, we must be prepared to confront any challenge.”
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Panetta told the graduates that he will travel through China and Southeast Asia over the course oft he year. “I’ll tell all of these nations that the United States will remain a Pacific power, and I’ll tell them why: because of you. Because during your careers, many of you will be headed to the Pacific,” he said.
But the United States isn’t looking for a showdown with China. “We need you to strengthen defense ties with China,” the defense secretary told the graduates. “[T]he key to that region is going to be to develop a new era of defense cooperation between our countries, one in which our militaries share security burdens in order to advance peace in Asia Pacific and around the world.”
