US Military Presence
See also: Quadrilateral Security DialogueOn 16 November 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and President Barack Obama announced that the United States would station troops in Australia for the first time since World War II. The agreement between the United States and Australia would involve a contingent of 250 Marines arriving in Darwin in 2012, with the total number rising to a maximum of 2,500 troops by 2017 on six month rotations. China and Indonesia have expressed concern about the decision. Some analysts have argued that an expanded US presence could pose a threat to security, a view defence analyst Paul Dibb rejects, noting the deterrent effect of an offshore US military presence in the 1999 East Timorese crisis which dissuaded Indonesia from directly attacking Australian peacekeepers. Australian Prime Minister has announced that the first 200 U.S. Marines had arrived in Darwin from Hawaii on late 3 April 2012.
Read more about this topic: Darwin, Northern Territory
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