The US Air Force (USAF) is studying options for new bomber and tanker aircraft rotations through Australia, according to a senior US military official.

The United States has reached an agreement with Australia on a "force posture initiative", General Lori Robinson, commander of the USAF's Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), said during a 18 November Defense Writers' Group breakfast in Washington, DC.

"The idea is much like what we do in Guam - rotation of tankers and bombers to do training and working with Australian allies … as well as training our pilots and aircrew - to help them understand the vastness of that region," said Gen Robinson.

The bombers and tankers would rotate through Australia's RAAF Base Tindal, but details about numbers of aircraft and timings are still being negotiated. "So that's all part of the conversations that we're having now," she added.

The new Northrop Grumman Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) could also be involved in that effort once it is deployed, the general said.

"Our ability to power project through the theatre would be one of the capabilities that we would want to have because … that shows a commitment to the theatre," said Gen Robinson.

"As we go forward it will probably … do continuous bomber presence just like we're doing now and provide that stability," she added.

The United States has reached an agreement with Australia to conduct bomber and tanker rotatations through Australia's RAAF Base Tindal. In addition to legacy bombers, the new LRS-B could also be involved in the effort once it is deployed.

The governor of Japan's Okinawa prefecture said on Monday he will move to halt work on a contentious U.S.A. air base, a headache for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a crucial time in his push to get widely opposed security bills passed.

The central government wants to move the U.S. Marines' Futenma base to another location on the southern island, but many Okinawa residents who resent U.S. military installations want to get rid of it altogether.

Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga, who won election last year on his anti-base stand and has accused Abe of looking down on the island, said his government will revoke a permit for key landfill work that is needed to relocate the base.

The government forced the bills through the lower house of parliament in July despite massive protests. More than half of people polled on the issue oppose the bills, which would allow Japan's armed forces to defend an ally under attack, a drastic shift in Japan's post-war security policy.

Last week US assistant defence secretary David Shear announced to a Congressional hearing that the United States would soon be basing B-1 Lancer bombers and surveillance aircraft in Australia as a deterrent to China’s “destabilising effect” in the South China Sea.

This move is, in fact, part of the USA’s pre-existing “pivot to Asia” strategy, which aims to gradually emplace a blockade on China, so the USA can strangle China economically by closing off its trade routes, affecting its ability to import oil from the Middle East or elsewhere by sea.

Australia is being upgraded as a US operated base for this purpose.

Australia has a “force posture agreement” with the USA that allows “enhanced aircraft cooperation initiatives.” It has already had heavy bombers (B-52s) deployed in Australia, though the justification at this stage is that these have only been “visits” for exercises and training.

For the US Defence forces it is apparently OK to inform their own Congress about their plans for further deployment of military forces before informing the government of one of their most obviously obsequious colonies of their intentions.

However, the Chinese government almost immediately issued a statement expressing “serious concern”, declaring it would “resolutely uphold its territorial sovereignty” and warning the United States to “talk and act cautiously and not take any actions that are risky or provocative”.

Following the Chinese reaction, the Australian Prime Minister Abbott and his Defence Minister Andrews were soon claiming that the US government had contacted them to advise that the official had “misspoke” and as far as the PM understood, “the US does not have any plans to base those aircraft in Australia.”

Abbott’s statement betrays the real relationship between Australia and the United States – Abbott “understands” the Americans have no “plans” at present for basing aircraft in Australia, but there is no independent Australian view on the matter.

Contrast this with the government view on refugees and immigration...

China signals ambitions for a greater naval presence further from its shores with the unveiling of a new military strategy white paper.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, a spokesman for China's Defence Ministry, Yang Yujun, denied the timing of the paper's release had any connection with the ongoing spat with the United States, which flew a surveillance plane last Wednesday over the reef and rock formations where China is carrying out extensive land reclamation and building in the disputed waters.

The paper also indirectly cites Australia's strengthening military alliance with the US as an issue of concern, in the context of the US continuing to enhance its military presence and alliances in the Asian region as part of its "rebalancing" strategy toward the Asia-Pacific.

Australia's own defence white paper, expected to be released in the next month, will be closely watched in Beijing for its language on the South China Sea as well as the East China Sea, where China is involved in a dispute with Japan over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

Australia's own defence white paper, expected next month, will be closely wached in Beijing

Okinawa, which hosts 75 percent of US military bases in Japan, is balking at plans for another base.

Once the independent kingdom of Ryukyu, Okinawa, was annexed by Japan in 1872. At the end of World War II, exactly 70 years ago, Okinawa was the site of one of the war's most ferocious battles. Caught between the armies of Japan and the United States, Okinawans suffered unspeakable horrors during the "typhoon of steel." Viewed as expendable under imperial Japan, many Okinawans were killed outright by Japanese soldiers or forced to commit mass suicide. An estimated 120,000 Okinawans - between one-third and one-quarter of the population - died between March and June 1945.

The pain inflicted during the war and its aftermath underscored the Okinawan core value nuchi du takara ("life is precious") and left many Okinawans highly adverse to warfare and militarism. Despite this, Okinawa has remained one of the most militarized places in the world for more than 70 years, first under direct US military occupation and continuing after Okinawa's "reversion" to Japan in 1972.

Okinawa is by far the smallest of Japan's 47 prefectures, and although it accounts for less than one percent of Japanese territory, it is home to around 24,000 US military personnel, almost half of Japan's total, and is burdened with nearly 75 percent of US bases in Japan.

How many foreign military bases would you accept in your hometown?