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US Pacific Command welcomes new leader

HONOLULU — The new Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet has listed North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, disputes in the South China Sea and Russia’s resurgent military aggression as some of the challenges faced by the US Navy.

Four-star Admiral Harry Harris took command of the US’ oldest and largest geographic combatant command in Honolulu this week. Photo: Reuters

Four-star Admiral Harry Harris took command of the US’ oldest and largest geographic combatant command in Honolulu this week. Photo: Reuters

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HONOLULU — The new Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet has listed North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, disputes in the South China Sea and Russia’s resurgent military aggression as some of the challenges faced by the US Navy.

Four-star Admiral Harry Harris, the highest-ranking Asian-American in the US Navy, took command of the US’ oldest and largest geographic combatant command in Honolulu this week. Adm Harris assumed command of the US Pacific Command (PACOM) from Adm Samuel Locklear in a ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Wednesday.

The US is in the midst of a “rebalance” in the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen relationships and shift resources, due to growing concern over these and other challenges.

“This is hard work, but this is what we live for,” Adm Harris said. “If called upon, we will fight tonight to defend American interests in the vast Indo-Asia-Pacific.”

The US Pacific Command is responsible for military operations in areas stretching from the US West Coast to the west coast of India, and from the Arctic Sea down to Antarctica.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter praised Adm Harris as the “PACOM commander we need for the next phase of the rebalance”, noting Adm Harris’ accomplishments and experience as commander of the US Pacific Fleet.

Adm Harris, 59, was born in Japan to a serviceman in the US Navy and Japanese mother, and was raised in Tennessee and Florida. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1978 and has served in every geographic combatant command region.

In an interview with TIME this week, Adm Harris said North Korea is the greatest threat to the US Navy. “(North Korea) has an unpredictable leader who is poised, in my view, to attack our allies in South Korea and Japan,” he said, citing Kim Jong-un’s “quest for nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them intercontinentally”.

He also said he had been critical of Beijing’s “provocative actions”, including its “lack of clarity on its outrageous claim ... to 90 per cent of the South China Sea”. “(China’s actions) make its neighbours nervous, increase tensions in the region, and I think they are destabilising for peace in the region,” he said.

Mr Mark Takai, a Japanese-American congressman from Hawaii, said Adm Harris is the right leader for the job and serves as an inspiration to the Asian-American Pacific Islander community. “I think it says a lot about the leadership of the US and how importantly they view this particular command and its leadership and guidance through the Asia-Pacific,” he said. AGENCIES

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