United States Vice President Joe Biden has strongly affirmed the U.S. will remain a Pacific Power and will never retreat from its "pivot to Asia" policy that will see most of its naval and aerial combat power redeployed to the region to contest an increasingly irrational Chinese leadership.

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Biden also said the pivot to Asia will remain no matter who the next U.S. President is. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the Democratic and Republican candidates for President, have been uncomfortably silent about the South China Sea issue, leading some to fear they might not continue Obama's pivot.

By making this affirmation, Biden also delivered the most powerful message yet the U.S. is ready to come to the aid of its treaty allies in the Pacific, including the Philippines and Japan, in the face of heightened tensions over the South China Sea triggered by China.

Biden also said the U.S. will continue to boost its presence in the Asia-Pacific region to maintain its status as a Pacific power. This strengthening of U.S. fighting power in the region supports the "pivot to Asia" policy of President Barack Obama announced in 2011. This pivot or rebalancing of forces will see some 60% of the U.S. Navy's and U.S. Air Force's combat power transferred to Asia.

"The United States is all in. We've made good on that promise and continue to make good on that promise. We have shown our commitment to lead the region over and over again," Biden said.

He said the "United States has kept and will keep a laser focus on the future in the Asia-Pacific."

"America is the linchpin and we want to ensure the sea lanes are secure, the skies remain open. That is how to maintain the free flow of commerce that is the life-blood of this region."

Biden made the affirmation during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other leaders on July 20. Biden is in Australia as part of a tour of the Pacific.

Biden's reassurances comes at a time when the probability of a war against China is rising following China's refusal to abide by a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that its "nine-dash line" is illegal and with it China's legally unfounded claim to own the South China Sea.

The Philippines and Japan are embroiled in simmering territorial disputes with China. The Philippines is fighting to get China to recognize its rights to disputed islands in the South China Sea the arbitration court said belong to the Philippines. Japan and China confront each other in the East China Sea where China claims the Senkaku Islands owned by Japan.

Australia is currently a key staging base for U.S. Marines tasked with defending Asia and will become more important by 2019. As part of the pivot to Asia, the U.S. Marine Corps will deploy a second Amphibious Ready Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to Australia in 2019, and perhaps as early as 2018.

The U.S. Navy will deploy another three-ship Marines' MEU to Australia as early as October 2018. The goal of the redeployment is to augment the Marines currently deployed to the Marine Rotational Force - Darwin on six-month rotations.

Some 1,250 Marines are currently stationed in Darwin and U.S. and Australian officials hope to boost that number to 2,500 by 2020. Adding another MEU will mean another 4,000 sailors and Marines will be rotating through the South Pacific.

TagsJoe Biden, United States, South China Sea, pivot to Asia, Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull