Asia Oversight

House Armed Services Committee leaders today announced a series of hearings aimed at illuminating military aspects of the Obama administration's pivot to the Asia-Pacific region. Led by Randy Forbes (R-VA), the seapower and projection forces subcommittee chairman, and panel member Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI), the series is expected to last through early 2014.

Of the five hearings slated to take place, four will be more or less explicitly about China. Topics are the 2013 annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission; the Defense Department's role in the government's orientation toward the Asia-Pacific; responding to China's military space capabilities; maritime disputes in the region; and the People's Liberation Army's “naval and aerospace modernization,” according to a fact sheet handed to reporters at a roll-out event today.

An Oct. 10 hearing about the Pentagon's Air-Sea Battle concept marked the beginning of the hearing series, according to the document.