Countering China: US planning to build combat-ready standing force on Australia's doorstep

Beijing, June 21 — The US is looking to set up a combat-ready standing force on Australia’s doorstep, an effort seen as a move to counter China’s increasing presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Ely Ratner, the man nominated by US President Joe Biden to be the next assistant secretary of defence said establishing a permanent ‘combat-credible forward posture’ is essential to the US military’s ability to deter aggression from authoritarian powers like China, reports Daily Mail. It is hoped that the standing force, which Australia would likely be asked to join, would protect Taiwan from being seized by force, the…