When then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared two years ago "We are
back to stay" as a power in Asia, the most dramatic symbol of the policy shift
was the planned deployment of 2,500 U.S. Marines in northern Australia, primed
to respond to any regional conflict.
At this point in time, however, there is not a single U.S. Marine in the
tropical northern city of Darwin, according to the Australian defense ministry.
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