By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com

The Chinese leadership is taking very seriously Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s statement that after curtailing its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington would focus more of its energy and resources on the Asia-Pacific Theatre.

Panetta said in Tokyo last week that despite overall cuts in the Pentagon budget, “we are not anticipating any cutbacks in this region.”

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) two top diplomatic and military decision-making organs, the Leading Group on Foreign Affairs and the Central Military Commission — which are both headed by President Hu Jintao — have discussed what the Chinese call “the new American threat” in special sessions the past fortnight.

In addition to Washington’s perceived role in backing Vietnam and the Philippines’ ownership of a host of South China Sea islets also claimed by China, CCP strategists see a broader — and more sinister — expansion of the time-honored “anti-China containment policy.”

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  Chinese President Hu Jintao, Pentagon, Philippines, South China Sea, Tough talk by Panetta met with tougher talk in response to ‘new American threat’, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Vietnam