Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the U.S., told a recent hearing of the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives that the U.S. should fully discharge its "role" as a "big power of Asia".

His remark, in a nutshell, means that the U.S. is a "Pacific country".

The U.S. geographically belongs to North America. Asia is far apart from the U.S. with the Pacific Ocean in between. Asian nations are quite different from the U.S. in the way of life, race, customs and skin color. There is no ground in any aspect to term the U.S. a Pacific country and an Asian nation.

Then why are the U.S. authorities talking about the theory of "Pacific country"?

This is related with the U.S. theory of "Pacific Empire".

William Seward, who regarded it as his mission to expand the U.S. territory in North America, used to say the U.S. should put the Pacific region under its control for domination over the world. He also said the greater theatre of the U.S. political and economic activities was the Asia-Pacific region. From that time onward, the advocates of the theory asserted that the supreme power over the Pacific region should be taken by the U.S. and that the Pacific region and Asia should be possessed by the U.S. like Texas and California.

In the period of the Reagan Administration, the theory of "Pacific country" became a U.S. doctrine with its foreign policy switched over to Asia from Europe. Ronald Reagan said that being a "Pacific country", the U.S. should advance into the region in the spirit of a "pioneer".

The Asia-Pacific region is vital for the U.S. from the geopolitical and strategic point of view.

Unlike in Europe, found in the region are powers the U.S. considers to be "potential rivals". The region is blessed with rich natural and human resources tempting the U.S. monopolists' cupidity. Besides, the region is of strategic importance.

This is why the U.S. has done its best to place the Asia-Pacific region under its military control, regarding the fate of its strategy for world domination depends on it.

The theory of "Pacific country" is just a theory of Asia conquest.