The New Rear Area

Redeploying forces from Japan (mostly Okinawa) to Guam recognizes that our rear area is too close to China. Back when China was a giant mass of proletarian fury, anything over the horizon was our rear area. Now, China's reach puts former rear area bases on the front line. So Guam gets beefed up.

And Australia, too, is needed to support forward forces in combat against China:

Access to Australian Defense Force facilities will allow the US to step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region as it comes under pressure to wind down its key bases such as Okinawa in Japan, as concern about China's military expansion grows.

An increased number of US personnel in Australian facilities was expected within months, and the tempo of military exercises will be stepped up as that happens.

Likely sites to host US troops are Townsville in Queensland as the primary base for army operations, the port of Darwin, the Bradshaw Field Training Area in the Northern Territory and HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia.

Three big announcements on military and security cooperation will be made after Monday's Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) defense and foreign policy talks involving delegations headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defense Minister Stephen Smith.

This is our new rear area. It makes it less likely that China will believe they can Pearl Harbor forces of ours based within easy range of China.

Note that using Austalian bases provides support to forces operating from India to Japan and South Korea.