This report appeared on the Singapore Straits Times website on 20 February 2004.

US looks for deeper alliances as focus shifts to Asia
By Lee Kim Chew

AMERICA is shifting its geostrategic focus from Europe to Asia and, in line with this, is seeking to redeploy its military forces and build new linkages.

United States Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith was in Asia last fortnight filling in the region’s governments on ’some of the basic concepts’ of the posture realignment.

He visited China and Australia before he came to Singapore, where he had discussions last Saturday with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Coordinating Minister for Defence and Security Tony Tan.

Mr Feith told The Straits Times that the talks were at the ’strategic and conceptual levels’. But follow-up action on the ground is expected soon. High on Washington’s wish list are access to military facilities and deeper alliances. The US wants to make use of its ‘valuable contacts’ to deal with common threats, said Mr Feith.

Stressing America’s need for ‘greater capabilities’ in Asia, he said: ‘What we need is a capability to move rapidly with light forces that can, with relatively small numbers, achieve large effects.’

The Pentagon’s new military doctrine dispenses with a large army by placing a heavy reliance on modern technology and sophisticated weapons.

Said Mr Feith: ‘We do not need the kind of heavy footprint, the spread of main operating bases that were so important in the Cold War.’

There is no confirmation yet that the 65,000 US troops in Europe, mostly stationed in Germany, will be redeployed to Asia.

The US will also need to establish radar bases in the Asia-Pacific region for satellite tracking facilities in its proposed missile shield programme.

Said Mr Feith: ‘We will have follow-up consultations that will focus more on specific things we might be doing with specific countries.

‘In some cases, it might involve facilities. In other cases, it might involve increased combined exercises. That’s something we’re interested in with Singapore.

‘There are things that can be done to promote greater intelligence cooperation, greater effectiveness in counter-terrorism work, promoting greater inter-operability.’

Describing US-Singapore relations as ‘extremely good’, he said: ‘What we’re talking about is not anything that represents some radical move or activity, but rather building on what’s already a pretty solid foundation of strategic cooperation.

‘If we work on intelligence together, it helps us harmonise our strategic thinking because we understand threats in a common fashion.’

All this, he said, ‘makes for a stronger set of ties’.

And those ties are strengthening elsewhere in the region. Despite strong domestic opposition, South Korea has sent 3,000 troops to the US-led reconstruction effort in Iraq, the third biggest contributor after the US and Britain.

There has also been more collaboration between Washington and Tokyo after North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile over Japan in 1998.

Japan provides naval facilities for US aircraft carriers and houses nearly half of the 100,000 American troops in Asia.

Among Asean countries, the Philippines has a security pact with the US while Thailand is a major non-Nato ally. Singapore provides logistical facilities for US forces.

With Indonesia and Malaysia, there are ‘degrees of cooperation’, said Mr Feith.

The US has shown a growing interest in Vietnam and wants naval access to Cam Ranh Bay, its former base.

Will US military redeployment, to augment its power in Asia, boost regional security, or turn into a new source of friction in the region?

There are no straight answers. Under the John Howard administration, Australia’s deputy sheriff stance rankled the Indonesians, who had protested against Canberra’s decision to be part of the US missile defence shield.

US marines in combat exercises with Philippine troops have stirred opposition from leftist groups, which say the US is using them to flex its military might in Asia.

Mr Feith said that America’s global posture realignment was a strategic and long-term move that was not aimed at any particular country.

But Beijing sees it differently. Even though it acknowledges that US military presence has a stabilising influence in Asia, China also views it as Washington’s containment policy.

In the Pentagon, hawkish talk of China as a strategic competitor reinforces this view. One Pentagon study says: ‘A stable and powerful China will be constantly challenging the status quo in Asia. An unstable and relatively weak China could be dangerous because its leaders might try to bolster their power with foreign military adventure.’

While the US National Security Strategy document asserts that the US and Russia are no longer strategic adversaries, this is not said of China.

Mr Feith described the Chinese reaction to his briefing on US redeployment strategy as ‘respectful’.

‘They said they understood the logic of our strategic concepts,’ he told The Straits Times.

‘What we are doing is, we want to have the ability to fulfil our commitments around the world, protect our security interests, contribute to stability. We want to be positioned to do that.’

As long as China believes this, Asia will have peace.

  

Posted on February 20th, 2004 by jl
Filed under: Regional Security