US defense review firmly fixes strategic focus on Asia-Pacific and China's perceived threat to its power projection abilities

Arevamped military strategy announced by US President Barack Obama at the Pentagon on Thursday has signaled a major shift in the US' long-established defense strategy and will lay the foundation for a shift in its slimmed-down military focus from Europe to Asia-Pacific.

It is a strategic shift that has been forced on the US by its fiscal crisis, as US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged in an introduction to the strategy review.