Lieutenant General James Bierman, commanding general of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) and of Marine Forces Japan, frankly admitted that U.S./NATO support for the Kiev regime is the model for how the U.S. military in Asia is working with allies to contain China.
The U.S. and Japanese militaries have “seen exponential increases … just over the last year” in their operations on the territory they would have to defend in case of a war, he told the Financial Times. “Why have we achieved the level of success we’ve achieved in Ukraine? A big part of that has been because after Russian aggression in 2014 and 2015, we earnestly got after preparing for future conflict: training for the Ukrainians, pre-positioning of supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate support, sustain operations,” he said. “We call that setting the theater. And we are setting the theater in Japan, in the Philippines, in other locations.”
