Colby said “America’s interests are more engaged than ever in the Indo-Pacific, and that we at the Department of War are concentrated on ensuring those interests are stoutly defended. This means a strong and growing U.S. investment in the region.”

 

He also addressed the renaming of the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) back to its previous name of the Pacific Command (PACOM), stressing that it was not seeking to undermine the importance of the Indian Ocean and the South Asian countries. 

 

“The change back to PACOM has multiple reasons, but I think what I would stress here is that the strategic focus of the United States military is really — and consistent with the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy — is on the first island chain,” he said.

 

The first island chain refers to the islands and island nations stretching from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula down to Peninsular Malaysia that includes the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Borneo.

 

“And so the Pacific element to that is really the focus, the Western Pacific area, obviously stretching into Southeast Asia here. Again, that’s the strategic logic,” he said.

 

In a reference to Australia that will surely sicken many of us, he said “I think one of the things that we’ve been impressed with our close ally — no better ally, Australia — is that Australia really sees things through the lens of collective defense and a strategy of deterrence by denial designed to sustain a balance of power in this key region,” adding that he saw an “alignment in thinking” between Australia and the US. 

 

Declaring that the strategic focus of the US military is on the first island chain is really a declaration that for the US, preparation for war with China is its strategic focus. And he knows enough about his Empire loyalists in the Australian government, armed forces and senior bureaucrats to express confidence in their “alignment in thinking” with that of their masters.

 

 

Colby’s statement seems to run counter to recent pronouncement from the boss of US imperialism, Donald Trump.

 

On his May 2026 meeting with Xi Jinping in China, Trump appeared to back away from endorsing Taiwanese independence, indicating a “four noes” policy on the Taiwan question, clearly signalling that he is unwilling to become involved in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait and that he opposes reckless moves toward “Taiwan independence.”

 

Trump’s “four noes” mean "not looking to have somebody go independent," not wanting US troops "to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war," not backing "Taiwan independence," and noncommittal to continued arms sales to the island of Taiwan.

 

And just recently, he has used his Truth Social account to make the following statement on North Korea.  We reproduce it in full:

 

Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, “No thanks!” Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

 

Now, of course, you could trust Trump as far as you could spit from a dry mouth on a hot day, but there do appear to be some inconsistencies between the Colby statement and the words of the President.

 

US imperialism is headed by the President of the US, and Trump has his idiosyncracies. But contradiction exists in all things: the US Department of State has its own agenda, the US military-industrial complex has its own interests, and the "hawks" in the US Congress have their own political stage. Behind all of this is US capital and the corporations, banks and financial entities that own it. Whilst the latter group has its common interests, it also has its sectional interests and rivalries. 

 

All of this means that we must judge US imperialism by what it does and what it is planning to do. 

 

One indicator is last month’s 31-nation Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) wargames. The Department of War proceeded from the assumption that having supply lines stretched over thousands of miles, a future war with China would strain US logistics. So, a major part of RIMPAC for the US was to test whether the military could manufacture key spare parts on demand, even aboard ships at sea through a new, networked approach to 3D printers and other high-tech tools they call distributed advanced manufacturing.

 

What is happening in military exercises is also being enunciated in new policy documents.

 

A new science and technology strategy released this week by the White House outlines a comprehensive, four-tiered priority scheme for military tech, from AI to quantum.

 

At the base of the pyramid are “key enabling technologies” that support three higher-priority techs. These enablers range from advanced manufacturing (e.g. 3D printers) to hypersonics, nuclear energy, and semiconductors.

 

At the top of the pyramid are the “three priority areas for U.S. battlefield dominance and power projection”:

 

• undersea superiority, both for submarines and anti-submarine warfare;

• space, meaning the ability to not just “detect” threats but also “counter” them, from low orbit to the Moon; and

• AI and autonomy, a “rapidly evolving area” which the strategy doesn’t define as clearly as the other two, but which in prior Pentagon usage has meant everything from strategic planning software to swarming drones.

 

In each of these three priority areas, there is concern that the US is falling behind China, hence the preparation for war in the South China Sea and the Pacific tops the list and incorporates the AUKUS arrangements, facilitated by their lackeys here and that “alignment in thinking”.

 

There is no point trying to take Trump at his word. He and the other component parts of the system of US imperialism speak with a forked tongue.

 

Watch their actions, not their words.