The US said yesterday it would not disengage from Asia despite political and strategic commitments elsewhere, as China told the region it is not a military threat to anyone.
The declarations were made at a high-profile conference, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, of defense ministers and military officials from 26 Asia-Pacific countries. Organizers say the annual meeting provides an opportunity for friends, foes and uneasy neighbors to meet and thrash out issues in private.
But there is some blunt talk as well, usually by the US.
PHOTO: AFP
Much of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ opening speech was devoted to making it clear that the change in the US administration next year would not lessen the US’ commitment to Asia, which dates back to World War II.
US interests in Asia “will endure no matter which political party occupies the White House next year,” Gates said.
Many governments in the region fear that US military and political commitments in the Middle East and Afghanistan will pull it away from eastern Asia and the Pacific.
“For those who worry that Iraq and Afghanistan have distracted the United States from Asia and developments here, I would counter that we have never been more engaged with more [Asian] countries,” Gates said.
One participant expressed concern that with growing economic uncertainty at home, the US may not be able to afford its huge presence in Asia — including military bases in Japan, the Philippines and South Korea and a massive naval deployment in the Pacific Ocean.
“There are enormous budgetary pressures building up in the United States,” said Kishore Mabhubani, a Singapore diplomat. “At some point the US electorate will ask, ‘Why do we need to have such a sizable military presence in Asia?’”
Although US military bases arouse anger among some in Asia, most governments feel a US presence is crucial — not only as protection from non-Asian threats, but also to counterbalance the growing military strength of China and the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
China’s defense budget for this year is reported to be US$59 billion, up 17.6 percent from a year ago. Other countries say China vastly underreports how much it spends on its military. The Pentagon estimates that China’s military expenditure last year was between US$97 billion and US$139 billion.
Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian (馬曉天), China’s deputy chief of the general staff for foreign affairs, told the conference that only a third of this year’s budget would go to buy armaments, with the rest for general maintenance expenses such as salaries and training.
“China will always adopt a defensive defense policy. We do not engage in arms race. We are a military threat to no other country,” he said. “You shall never see hegemony or expansionism.”
The Chinese army is prepared to step up military exchanges with Asia-Pacific countries, as well as cooperate in areas such as counterterrorism and disaster relief, he said.
Still, one of China’s closest neighbors, Japan, is uneasy.
Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said even though China may not be regarded as a security threat, it has a duty to its neighbors to be transparent about its military capabilities.
“Japan tries to be transparent in this sense and I want to see the same transparency in China,” Ishiba said. “If we are transparent and generate mutual understanding ... then it will generate more confidence.”
The conference, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, continues today.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
SUPERFAN: The Japanese PM played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band in middle school and then switched to drums at university, she told the British rock band Legendary British rock band Deep Purple yesterday made Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s day with a brief visit to their high-profile superfan as they returned to the nation they first toured more than half a century ago. Takaichi’s reputation as an amateur drummer, and a fan of hard rock and heavy metal has been well documented, and she has referred to Deep Purple as one of her favorite bands along with the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. “You are my god,” a giddy Takaichi said in English to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of made-in-Japan
RSS