Randall Schriver
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Asian & Pacific Security Affairs
Testimony on American Leadership in the Asia-Pacific
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy
May 15, 2018
Good morning Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Markey, and members of the committee.
Thank you for this opportunity to update you on the Department of Defense’s approach to theIndo-Pacific region. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Deputy Assistant
Secretary Alex Wong for his remarks. We have been engaged in a robust and fruitful interagency
process to develop the U.S. strategy and approach to the Indo-Pacific region, and it has truly
been a sterling example of interagency focus and cooperation. Furthermore, as we work todevelop and implement a strategy that demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open
Indo-Pacific region, and advances a rules-based international order, we have been aided in ourefforts by bipartisan support from Congress. While we are continuing our review, I was pleasedto note that the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), currently being discussed by thiscommittee, appears to align substantially with our approach to the region.

The United States seeks to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region. A region in which
nations with diverse cultures and different aspirations can prosper side-by-side in freedom,peace, and stability. By “free,” we mean that nations will be free from coercion and able toprotect their sovereignty. At the national level, we mean that societies are increasingly freer interms of good governance, and fundamental human rights and liberties. By “open,” we mean that
all nations can enjoy freedom of the seas, and that all share a commitment to the peacefulresolution of disputes. We also mean more open investment environments and improved
connectivity to drive regional integration and prosperity.
As the region’s population and economic weight grow, and as it faces rising security andpolitical challenges, the U.S. commitment to the region must keep pace. Our vision for the IndoPacific region excludes no nation; we seek to partner with all who respect national sovereignty,
fair and reciprocal trade, and the rule of law. Our aim is for all nations to live in prosperity,security, and liberty in the same rules-based order. For the Indo-Pacific region to flourish, each1and every State must be free to determine its own course within a system of values that ensures
opportunity for even the smallest countries to thrive.

Toward these goals, and in alignment with the measures being discussed by this Committee, theUnited States is reaffirming our longstanding security commitments to our allies while
broadening and strengthening our security partnerships. We are encouraging a more networked
approach to security cooperation to counter common threats and ensure regional stability. We
will work with allies and partners to promote regional institutions and infrastructure, such as theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) forum, and trilateral and multilateral mechanisms of like-minded partners, to protect andadvance the region’s rules-based order. Finally, we will support transparent and high-standard
infrastructure financing; pursue free, fair, and reciprocal trade; and foster sustainable
development throughout the region. We seek to ensure that the Indo-Pacific’s commitment tomarket-driven growth continues and that new infrastructure knits the region together, generates
local wealth, and leads to sustainable growth.

The Department of Defense is intently focused on supporting the broader, whole-of-government
approach to this crucial region. Indeed, as Secretary Mattis often emphasizes, the Indo-Pacific is
the priority theater, a point of view that is reflected in our National Defense Strategy (NDS) andin our robust engagement with the region.

We recognize that we face a diverse array of security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. As
the NDS acknowledges, the reemergence of great power competition is the central challenge toU.S. security and prosperity, and demands prioritization and hard strategic choices. The NDS
also highlights a number of immediate challenges, such as those posed by rogue regimes andviolent extremist organizations.

In light of these challenges, we have crafted a defense strategy that builds a more lethal, resilient,
ready, and rapidly innovating U.S. military which, combined with a robust constellation of allies
and partners, will ensure we remain capable of safeguarding security, prosperity, and a free,open, and rules-based order. All States in the Indo-Pacific region benefit from these collective
goods, and we expect our allies and partners to contribute to the maintenance of this rules-basedorder. We each have a role to play and a shared responsibility for our shared future.
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A central theme of the NDS, and one that is predominantly reflected in both the ARIA andDoD’s approach to the Indo-Pacific region, is our focus on our alliances and partnerships. We
are committed to working by, with, and through allies and partners to find ways to addresscommon challenges, enhance shared capabilities, increase defense investment and improve
interoperability, streamline information sharing, and build networks of capable and like-minded
partners. We are strengthening our abilities to deter potential adversaries while also using
programs like the Maritime Security Initiative to improve partners' maritime domain awarenessand maritime capabilities, enabling them to better resist coercion and maintain theirindependence, contribute to the rules-based order, and deter and defend against threats. Ouralliances and partnerships serve as a force multiplier for good, and further cooperation among us
will aid in our collective efforts to maintain peace and stability throughout the region.

In Northeast Asia, the dynamic security environment continues to underscore the importance ofour robust alliance and partner relationships, in particular given the immediate challenge posedby North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Although recent diplomaticdevelopments are encouraging, the Department of Defense continues to work closely with ourallies and partners to maintain and improve our readiness to defend against potential threats,
while ensuring that our diplomats engage from a position of strength to achieve the complete,verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization and the dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear,chemical, biological, and missile programs. Beyond North Korea, we are focused onmodernizing our alliances with both the Republic of Korea and Japan, with each of ally taking
steps to contribute to regional security and stability more broadly. We are also focused on
promoting our defense relationship with Taiwan, and faithfully upholding our commitmentsunder the Taiwan Relations Act.

In Southeast Asia, we are working with allies and partners to build counterterrorism andmaritime security capabilities to address region-wide challenges central to upholding the rulesbased order. We are reinvigorating our longstanding alliances with Thailand and the Philippines,
while bolstering our enduring partnership with Singapore. We are expanding strategic defense
relationships with important regional players such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. We arealso working to promote ASEAN’s centrality in the regional security architecture and empower
it to contribute more effectively to regional stability. It is important that ASEAN speak clearly3

and with one voice on regional issues such as the South China Sea, counterterrorism, and NorthKorea. We look forward to working with ASEAN members to strengthen multilateral defense
cooperation, enhance maritime domain awareness, counter the threat posed by terrorism, andadvance cooperation on humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, among other initiatives.

In Oceania, our alliances and partnerships are based not only on shared security interests, butalso on deeply shared values and a long history of shared sacrifice. Australia remains one of theUnited States’ strongest allies, and we are deepening our defense partnership with New Zealand.
We are modernizing these key alliances and partnerships to ensure they are as relevant to thesecurity challenges of this century as they were to the challenges of the last century and continue
to underwrite a free and open Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

In South Asia, we are strengthening our partnerships, particularly with India. In 2016, the UnitedStates declared India a Major Defense Partner, which opens the door for increased cooperation
on a range of defense issues, most notably defense trade and technology. We are natural partners
across a range of political, economic, and security issues. With a mutual desire for global
stability and support for a rules-based international order, our two countries have an increasing
convergence of interests, including maritime security and domain awareness, counter-piracy,countering terrorism, humanitarian assistance, and coordinated responses to natural disasters andtransnational threats. Our partnership extends beyond the Indo-Pacific region as well, and as weimplement our South Asia Strategy, we welcome India’s continued civilian contributions tostability and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

We are also stepping up our engagement with European and NATO Allies, such as the United
Kingdom, France, and Canada, with whom we share enduring interests in the Indo-Pacificregion.

As we strengthen our alliances and partnerships we are also taking the steps necessary to
improve our military readiness and capabilities to reassure our allies and deter potentialadversaries. Strong deterrence is at the foundation of our regional, and indeed, our global
approach, and Secretary Mattis is clear in his emphasis on the Department’s role in supporting
our diplomats so they can engage and negotiate from a position of strength.

4Given the long-term, consequential nature of the Indo-Pacific region to U.S. national securityand emerging threats to the region’s stability, the Department is sustaining its focus on the regionin Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. The FY 2019 budget seeks to close gaps within the Future Years
Defense Program (FYDP) in U.S. combat capacity, readiness, posture and presence, and otherareas unique to the region’s warfighting needs.

For example, the FY 2019 budget invests in key capabilities identified as critical to support joint,
integrated fires in the Indo-Pacific region, both in defense of U.S. interests and to reach inside an
adversary’s anti-access and area-denial envelope with advanced, long-range munitions. The
budget also invests in posture initiatives to close gaps in resiliency of joint operations—that is,
our ability to absorb an adversary attack and sustain operations to deny their objectives—in theIndo-Pacific region, particularly through improved logistics support. The budget also continues
to address shortfalls both in preferred munitions for ongoing operations, and in more advanced,
long-range munitions needed within the FYDP for high-end warfight demands in the region.
These investments are one part of the Department’s broader efforts in rebuilding our military to
be more ready, capable, and lethal, particularly for forward deterrent forces.

Finally, our approach to the region and our strategy to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacificregion accounts for our relationship with China. China should and does have a voice in shaping
the international system, as do all countries. However, in recent years, we have grown concernedby China’s strategic intentions and trajectory, including some activities in the region that weview as destabilizing and counterproductive—in the South China Sea, for example. Although theUnited States will continue to pursue a constructive, results-oriented relationship with China, wewill not accept policies or actions that threaten to undermine the international rules-based order,
a system that has benefited everyone in the region, including China. We will stand up for anddefend that order, and we will encourage others to do the same; and although we are committed
to cooperating with China where our interests align, we will compete, vigorously, where ourinterests diverge.

Our vision for the Indo-Pacific region excludes no nation. We seek to partner with all nations
that respect national sovereignty, fair and reciprocal trade, and the rule of law. Although weaccept that States will make some decisions that are not in our interests, we recognize that for theIndo-Pacific region to flourish, each nation in the region must be free to determine its own5

course within a system of values that ensures opportunity for even the smallest countries tothrive, free from the dictates of the strong. Our aim is for all nations to live in prosperity,security, and liberty, free from coercion and able to choose their own path.

The United States is a Pacific nation and has been one for centuries. We will remain committed
to maintaining the security and stability in this all-important region. This is a view that has
transcended political transitions and has maintained strong bipartisan support. During my tenure
as Assistant Secretary, I have been encouraged by the leadership demonstrated by Congress, andI look forward to working with you on the specific measures you propose to enhance U.S.
leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.

Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Markey, members of the committee, thank you for theopportunity to testify this morning. I look forward to your questions.

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