PALACE VISITOR President Aquino greets Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, chief of the US Pacific Command, who visited Malacañang on Monday. Locklear arrived in Manila on Sunday for a three-day visit. LYN RILLON
Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III was appointed on March 9 commander of the US Pacific Command, covering an area from the US West Coast to India, including the Philippines.
He leads approximately 330,000 military and civilian personnel, or one-fifth of the total US military strength.
Prior to his appointment, Locklear concurrently served as chief of US naval forces in Europe and Africa, and commander of Allied Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy.
In March 2011, Locklear also commanded US and Nato-led operations in Libya that eventually toppled the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.
In a speech on his appointment, Locklear recognized the Pacific Command as “the vanguard of our new US defense strategy.”
“We will expand our networks of cooperation with emerging partners who ensure the security of our common interests, continue to invest in long-term strategic partnerships with those nations who have the ability or the willingness to serve as the regional economic anchors through providers of security in this critical region,” he said.
In April, Locklear met with Japanese Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka and surveyed Tokyo’s defense systems set up ahead of the North Korean rocket launch. Locklear also visited South Korea in the same month, where he echoed calls for North Korea to cease provocations.
In June, Locklear visited China, the first by a command chief in four years. China suspended military exchanges in early 2010 over US arms sales to Taiwan.
He later said that among the issues discussed with the Chinese authorities was China’s claims over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
While he reiterated that the United States had not taken sides in the territorial disputes, he maintained that “whatever happens in that part of the world has to be resolved peacefully and without coercion.”
Locklear also said that the United States was concerned about China’s maritime claims that would hinder freedom of trade and movement through international waters.
“This is a place where we diverge, and [that] has caused difficulties. So we have to keep working with [China] on that and we have to keep working to ensure that as we disagree on that, it doesn’t lead to miscalculation that drives us in a direction we don’t want to go,” Locklear said.
Locklear is a 1977 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He also graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1992, and earned a master’s degree in public administration from George Washington University. Compiled by Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research
Sources: US Pacific Command; US Department of Defense; US Navy