Analysis: Gates' Asia Trip Symbolic

Returning Thursday, Gates talked about strengthening and expanding military ties with Indonesia, India and Australia.

No mention of China. He demurred when asked if his effort to bolster relations with those other nations should be seen as a hedge against China's expanding influence.

"I don't see our improving military relationships in the region in the context of any other country, including China," he told reporters. "These expanding relationships don't necessary have to be directed against anybody."

And yet, they clearly can be.

Consider the successful downing over the Pacific of a crippled U.S. spy satellite on Feb. 20, using a Navy missile. The Pentagon wanted to destroy the fuel tank, which contained a toxic substance that U.S. officials believed posed a potential health hazard to people the satellite descended to Earth on its own.

But the shootdown delivered an unmistakable message of military might aimed directly at China, which conducted a similar spacecraft shootdown a year ago.

The military muscle-flexing was quickly followed by a week of high-level visits by Gates to defense officials in countries that are in the shadow of China's expanding defense capabilities yet also are being wooed by China's massive trade market.

While the timing of the events may have been largely coincidental, there is no mistaking the result.

All but overwhelmed by war-fighting commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. cannot afford to be perceived as ignoring or unable to focus on other hot spots in the world. The image of Gates, his fractured arm in a sling, trekking across the region, underscored the continued commitment the U.S. must demonstrate to the Asia-Pacific region.