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Guam - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempey, is in the region. On Saturday he visited the Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  The atoll is home to the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll/Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.


According to a media release from the Department of Defense, Dempsey told about 200 people who attended a town hall meeting that the U.S. rebalance to the Pacific is a matter of "national imperative".


The U.S. rebalance to the Pacific region is important because 7 of the 9 billion people in the world are projected to be living in the arc from India to China by 2050, Dempsey said. Where the majority of the planet's people live is where the issues -- economic, demographic, security, climate change -- will be, he  added.