US Provided $396 Million to Build Maritime Capacity of Allies in Indo-Pacific

A Filipino fisherman is seen past the U.S. Navy amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD-20) during an amphibious landing exercise on a beach at San Antonio, Zambales Province, on April 21, 2015, as part of annual Philippine-U.S. joint maneuvers some 137 miles (220km) east of the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images

As part of the Indo-pacific strategy, the Department of Defense spent $396 million to build the maritime capacity of allies and partners in the region, said David F. Helvey, the acting assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific on June 18.

Helvey defined this as part of the Department of Defense’s priority to ensure free and open Indo-pacific by building partnerships—a key priority of the strategy and said it has built the maritime capacity of allies including the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and more recently Bangladesh.