He will be working to dispel skepticism that the administration’s new Asia-Pacific strategy is an emperor with no clothes, and so is certain to offer rebuttals to those who say the regional “rebalancing” remains more rhetoric than reality.
At the same time, he will have to convince a specific audience — in Beijing — that relocating resources to the region after a decade of combat in the Middle East and Southwest Asia is not meant to confront China.
At each stop, Mr. Panetta will describe an American vision “that we continue to be what we have been now for seven decades: the pivotal military power in the Asia-Pacific region, which has provided peace and stability,” said Ashton B. Carter, the deputy defense secretary, who in late summer spent 10 days in Asia pushing the administration’s strategy.
Part of that strategy, Mr. Carter said, is to ensure that not just longtime allies like Japan and South Korea thrive, but that American policy helps other economic and political powers — he cited China and India — “to rise and prosper.”
