June 17th 2004
As Rumsfeld urged allies in Asia to get tougher on terrorists, Asia complained that he didn't appreciate growing resentment against the US
United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s participation in a recent security conference for Asian defence ministers in Singapore highlighted a growing disconnect between the U.S. and its closest friends in Asia. Rumsfeld arrived in Singapore for the early June conference calling on nations in Asia to do more inthe battle against terrorism. But Asian leaders warned the American defence chief that Washington was tackling the war in the wrong way and was radicalizing Asia’s Muslims - all without enough appreciation for growing domestic opposition to America that is weighing on Asian allies.
Analysts worry that the growing gap between the US and its friends in Asia could begin to undermine security alliances that have bolstered stability in the region since the end of World War II.
In a speech to the conference on June 5, Rumsfeld called on Asian countries to strengthen their support for the US-led campaign against international terrorism. "Because [terrorism] cannot be appeased, it must be confronted on many fronts by all civil societies," he told the audience of Asian defence ministers, lawmakers and security experts. Rumsfeld warned that, despite some successes around the region in foiling plots, terrorists will strike again.
Speaking to journalists, Rumsfeld cautioned that any government hoping to "make a separate peace" with terrorists would be as wrong as the European leaders who appeased Adolf Hitler’s Germany in the 1930s. "The only way ... to win this global struggle ... is to go on the offensive to root out terrorists at their source, and for us to collectively put pressure on them and all those enablers that sustain them," he said to the conference.
One of Washington’s staunchest friends in Asia, Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, was the first to warn Rumsfeld about rising anti-US sentiment in the region. In his opening address to the conference, Goh said bluntly that Washington’s pro-Israel policies in the Middle East are "part of the problem". He said that Muslims "around the world" are uncomfortable with America’s Middle East policies and therefore can’t justify joining the wider fight against terrorism. "A more balanced and nuanced approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... must become a central pillar of the global war on terrorism," said Goh.
A few days earlier, at a security round table in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s new prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had gone further and blamed the Israeli-Palestinian problem and US policies in Iraq for "radicalizing even more people and breeding a new generation of terrorists". Abdullah, a former moderate Islamic teacher, added that "we are not only refusing to recognize some root causes [of terrorism], but consciously and deliberately aggravating them." Abdullah’s words carried all the more weight because he spoke even-handedly, acknowledging that "Islamic teachings have been corrupted by some groups to serve their militant cause."
Many Asian leaders believe that Washington would be more successful in the war againgst terrorism if it employed more weapons of "soft power" such as education and economic development. Speaking at the Singapore conference, Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Razak warned that "terrorism cannot be bombed in submission". Urging that the "underlying legitimate grievances that allow for such extremists to gain support" be addressed, Najib, who is also deputy prime minister, advocated "a judicious mix of hard and soft force" to deny terrorists their "psychological oxygen".
To the extent that the misgivings expressed in Singapore registered with Singapore, he largely rejected them. In a question-and-answer session at the conference, the defence secretary was asked if Washington’s "coalition of the willing" in Iraq had become a "coalition of the reluctant", a reference to popular opposition t US actions in Iraq. Rumsfeld replied: "We do not go around putting pressure ... on countries to d something that is against their interest." Asked if Washington was creating political problems for Asian allies, the defence secretary repeated that "we are not causing difficulties for anyone."
But critics recall that President George W. Bush made it clear that countries were either "with us or against us" in the anti-terror campaign. Many governments in Asia, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, had largely ignored domestic public opposition when they joined the US-led war on Iraq. "This, however, creates a democratic deficit between popular opinion and government policy," says Simon Tay, chair of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
The government in South Korea faces increasing opposition to President Roh Moo Hyun’s pledge to send an additional 3000 troops to Iraq as well as growing calls for a foreign policy mre independent from the US. In Australia, the opposition Labor Party has promised to withdraw the country’s troops from Iraq by Christmas if it wins a general election before the end of the year.
Other Asian governments are also counting the cost of supporting Washington. Even in Singapore, the most pro-American country in the region, government officials report they are "paying a price" for lining up so firmly behind the US. Singaporean Muslims, a significant minority of the population, are questioning Singapore’s stand, officials say, while Singapore’s conspicuous advocacy on America’s behalf serves to emphasize the island state’s differences with its larger neighbours, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Analysts worry that the erosion of popular support for pro-American Asian governments will undermine US security alliances that have long been crucial to the stability of the region. Ralph Cossa, who heads the Pacific Forum of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Hawaii, says the US characterizes Asia’s support for the war on terrorism "as not enough," even as Asian governments go out on a limb to support Washington. "They are democracies, and public support for alliances is critical," Cossa told the REVIEW. Rumsfeld "didn’t even acknowledge the problem."
