June 1st 2003
It is rethinking the type of firepower needed to defend its interests, and Japan plans to play a more active security role
By David Boey
AS TOURISTS weighed down by booty from the Great Singapore Sale filed past the gauntlet of security checks outside The Shangri-La Hotel yesterday, defence ministers and armed forces chiefs from 20 countries got down to business inside a ballroom there at Asia's biggest gathering of defence chiefs.
Holding court at the Asia Security Conference, the world's first major defence conference since the war in Iraq, was United States Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the keynote speaker at the first plenary session.
The US picked the right man to sell its strategic thoughts to an audience of defence heads, many of whom come from countries opposed to the war on Iraq.
Mr Wolfowitz was once the US Ambassador to Indonesia and had also served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, where he piloted US dealings with more than 20 countries in the Pacific Rim.
At yesterday's event, organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, he sketched the global dimension of the US-led war on terrorism when he told delegates that more than 3,000 Al-Qaeda members were detained in more than 100 countries at the end of last year.
'This demonstrates the impressive international cooperation in the global war against terror,' he said.
He also signalled that the US would continue to up its guard despite its apparent success in choking off terrorist threats the world over. 'Terrorists are still out there, still plotting their brutal attacks to draw innocent blood. But like Sept 11 and Bali, I believe the bombing in Riyadh may prove to be a wake-up call, this time for the Saudis.'
Mr Wolfowitz's statement that the US was rethinking the type of firepower needed to defend its interests in the Asia-Pacific stoked a series of questions on whether Asian defence planners were ready for fewer boots on the ground.
But even as the US looked poised to move towards having smaller, more agile forces based in Asia, Japan's Minister of State for Defence, Mr Shigeru Ishiba, indicated that Japan would play a more active security role in Asia.
Delegates needed no translator as Mr Ishiba gave his speech in English. His speech was also peppered with subtle indications that seasoned defence hands needed no help in understanding.
For instance, his statement that Japan will 'play more positive roles to accelerate the efforts for more stable security environments in the region' translates to more forays by Japanese warships and aircraft to the region.
Ships and aircraft from Japan's Self Defence Forces play an active though low-profile role in the Asia-Pacific. Several Japanese destroyers and support ships sailed past Singapore several months ago as part of Japan's contribution to the war against terrorism.
Mr Ishiba also revealed that Japan was 'considering' sending an unnamed number of C-130 transport planes as part of 'humanitarian activities in the vicinity of Iraq'.
Such phrases are evidence of the subtlety used by diplomats in floating trial balloons at defence forums.
Defence analysts will probably have more such vague statements to ponder when more trial balloons are expected to be floated at the final day of the conference today.
