As the Obama administration responds to China’s military modernization, it should come as no surprise that Hawaii will serve as a base for some of the 8,000 Marines departing Okinawa. Even with proposed tightening in the Pentagon budget, Hawaii’s strategic role as a principal military portal to Asia will be maintained for the foreseeable future, according to senior U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

That’s good news. Such a commitment will not only help our recovering economy, but maintain Hawaii’s position of importance where the action is — with the Asian and Pacific nations that are growing in power and influence.

Japan and the United States were pressured to renegotiate a 2006 agreement to remove 8,000 Marines and their families from Okinawa — which is host to nearly half of the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan — to Guam. Inouye now says about 4,000 will go to Guam, and the remainder reportedly are destined for Australia, Hawaii and possibly the Philippines.

Inouye told the Star-Advertiser this week that the question remains of whether the troops transferred to Hawaii will be rotating or permanent, the latter of which would require more infrastructure, such as schools. Long-term indications suggest the latter is likely, although Inouye said that decision has not been made. Certainly their arrival on our shores will be welcome.

In a major policy statement last month, President Barack Obama said, "Over the long term, China’s emergence as a regional power will have the potential to affect the U.S. economy and our security in a variety of ways." High among the considerations is "the growth of China’s military power," he suggested.

Soon afterward, Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, told more than 500 soldiers at Pearl Harbor, "The focus of this department in the future is the Asia-Pacific region, where you are. I look at Hawaii and I say it’s the gateway — it’s the most strategic base — out into the Asia-Pacific." He said the shift partly results from the U.S. drawdown in the Middle East and a declining defense budget.

Greenert told reporters that ships and aircraft deployments in the Pacific would remain at current levels or be increased, along with efforts involving unmanned equipment, cybersecurity and electronic warfare — "the culmination of all of our capabilities to get the complete picture."

China observers say its military modernization effort, which began in the 1990s, is aimed at asserting or defending China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea. It includes enforcing China’s claimed right to regulate foreign military activities in its 200-mile maritime exclusive economic zone while protecting its maritime routes, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Of course, flexing muscles is not the only way to deal with the neighbors. Any military conflict between the U.S. and China seems highly unlikely because of the two countries’ economic dependence on each other. That’s a good thing, too; it’s a dependence that can foster closer economic and cultural ties.

For Hawaii, that means encouraging tourism to the United States by newly wealthy Chinese, a huge potential for the state’s travel industry — and another constructive way to project our influence across the wide Pacific.