The United States Army has announced its intention to stockpile equipment in Cambodia, Vietnam and several other Asian countries.
According to the Diplomat, the United States plans to fill these equipment depots with humanitarian and disaster relief supplies.
Unlike the country's European military stockpiles, these “equipment activity sets” will contain only lighter equipment, according to US General Dennis Via, who spoke at the 2016 Association of the United States Global Force Symposium and Exposition. Via also stressed the United States' intention to establish eight equipment activity sets across the globe.
“Throughout the Pacific Rim, these will be humanitarian assistance/disaster relief-type equipment and material, so that when you have typhoons and other types of natural disasters, US Army Pacific Command can respond more quickly,” the Diplomat quoted Via as saying. “We are looking, for example, at in Cambodia placing a combat support hospital.”
Via claims this will help the United States to save money, though it is unclear how. Others suggest it may be a power play before China; even if the stockpiles are solely humanitarian in nature, their existence represents an increased American presence in the region, bolstering solidarity between the United States and its Asian allies.
Stockpiling military equipment also means a de-facto presence of American military personnel in these locations. While there would be no permanent military bases constructed as a result of the plan, these Asian equipment activity sets would necessarily deepen cooperation between their host countries and the United States.
That said, there's still one thing missing: local approval. As the Diplomat writes: “It is also unclear whether these plans could still unravel in the face of domestic opposition in Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as in other countries.” Given the history between Vietnam and the United States, we get the feeling the latter is going to have to ask really, really nicely.
[Photo via US Department of Defense]
