By Steve Holland
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed on Friday that if elected he would ensure U.S. military supremacy worldwide as a counterweight to a rising China and other potential adversaries.
Romney's foreign policy address at the Citadel military college was an effort to show Republicans that he would pursue an aggressive U.S. role in an unsettled world and reverse what they contend has been an American retrenchment under Democratic President Barack Obama.
"This is very simple: If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your president," Romney said. "You have that president today."
Romney's speech was an updated version of Republican President Ronald Reagan's "peace through strength" doctrine. He identified China and Russia as nations with growing ambitions that must be watched carefully by U.S. policymakers, along with Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Venezuela.
Romney said he would take an assertive approach towards China, maintaining a strong military presence in the Pacific to ensure open trade routes are maintained and deepen cooperation with countries in the region who share concerns about China's growing power.
"China has made it clear that it intends to be a military and economic superpower. Will her rulers lead their people to a new era of freedom and prosperity or will they go down a darker path, intimidating their neighbours, brushing aside an inferior American Navy in the Pacific?" he asked.
Romney, a former businessman, former Massachusetts governor and organizer of the 2002 Winter Olympics, has little foreign policy experience. He has packed his national security team with former aides to Republican President George W. Bush.
Some of his policies sounded similar to those of Bush, who launched costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Romney, lest he be compared unfavourably to Bush, said he would employ "all the tools of statecraft" to shape threatening situations before they demand military action.
"The United States should always retain military supremacy to deter would-be aggressors and to defend our allies and ourselves. If America is the undisputed leader of the world, it reduces our need to police a more chaotic world," he said.
The White House and Obama's re-election campaign pushed back hard at the charge that Obama has weakened the U.S. military and has shown a lack of resolve abroad. Democrats pointed specifically to Obama's order that led to the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.
"We are stronger, we are safer, we have taken the fight to our principal enemy with ... a level of aggression and success that is unprecedented," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Romney leads his Republican rivals by a small margin in polls of Republican voters and has yet to separate himself from the pack despite a well-funded, disciplined campaign.
Conservatives harbour doubts about his convictions and have been tempted by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Romney's strategy is to slowly pick up steam.
His speech at the Citadel was part of that strategy, to make his foreign policy vision look different from that of Obama but not alienate independent voters should he become the Republican nominee to oppose Obama in November 2012.
MORE NAVY SHIPS
Romney said in his first 100 days in office he would order the U.S. Navy built up by increasing the shipbuilding rate to about 15 a year from nine in order to bolster the American presence on the high seas. He would pursue a national missile defence system and cybersecurity strategy.
And he would launch a review of Obama's troop drawdown from Afghanistan to ensure the United States has the force level necessary to secure gains against the Taliban.
This sets him apart from top rival Perry, who told Time magazine he thinks U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq should come home as soon as possible.
Romney did not say how he would pay for his bulked-up U.S. military other than to say he would push for stronger economic growth.
Romney said he would also:
- Step up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program by ordering the regular presence of an aircraft carrier task force in both the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf region and begin discussions with Israel to increase military and intelligence coordination.
- Prevent any massive cuts in defence spending. He has denounced an August agreement between Obama and Congress that could permit deep cuts in the U.S. defence budget as part of an effort to tackle record budget deficits.
- Work to bolster relations with Israel that some critics say have been damaged by what they feel was Obama's favouring of the Palestinians over Israel.
"America must lead the world, or someone else will," Romney said.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
