The United States is not disengaging from Asia and is instead \u201cdigging in\u201d to maintain a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, but wants its partners to shoulder more responsibility for their defense, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeking to counter concerns about Washington\u2019s reliability, Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of Defense for Policy, reiterated the U.S. interest in the region as he called for greater burden-sharing and \u201cpartnership, not dependency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAmerica is definitely not disengaging from Asia,\u201d Colby said in a speech in Manila. \u201cWe are not leaving; in fact, we are digging in, to ensure a favourable balance of power where it matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Philippines, the United States\u2019 oldest treaty ally in Asia, is the first stop on a Southeast Asian trip that also will take Colby to Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colby said maintaining a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific required a \u201cposture of deterrence by denial along the First Island Chain\u201d and pointed to what he said was a growing U.S. military commitment in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The First Island Chain refers to an area stretching from Japan down to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strategy could not rest on American forces alone, he said, arguing that allies should invest more in their security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we ask our allies and partners to step up, to invest more in their own defense, and to take responsibility for their own sovereign security, we are not signaling abandonment,\u201d Colby said. \u201cWe are looking for partners, not protectorates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen our partners are strong, deterrence is strong,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby reaffirmed the U.S. interest in the region as he called for greater burden-sharing and partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[45,160,11,36,19],"tags":[8590,8598],"coauthors":[8528],"class_list":["post-82750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","tag-asia","tag-philippines"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"REL6IDFBPBC5ZGWBFCVP4DZ3EQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2026\/08\/10\/us-not-disengaging-from-asia-seeks-partners-not-protectorates-says-pentagon-official\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n