June 5th 2004
It's Day 1 and ahead of the formal conference sessions, defence officials and academics have started to chat and meet on the sidelines
By Woon Wui Tek and Azrin Asmani
THE first major event yesterday on Day 1 of the Third Shangri-La Dialogue was only in the evening, with an opening dinner and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's keynote address.
But the talk shop began early in the day for many of the arriving security officials and academics who had arranged chats and meetings on the sidelines of the Asian security conference.
For the defence chief of aerospace giant Boeing, it was networking, but of another kind.
Mr James Albaugh, head of Boeing's Integrated Defence Systems unit, talked up the company's wares to journalists: At one point, he explained how networking technology, by allowing various elements of a war-fighting force to share information, can raise overall 'operational capability'.
Networking technology is part of a package that Boeing hopes can secure it a Republic of Singapore Air Force fighter plane contract, he revealed.
Constant communication, beyond Boeing's F-15T jet or the major speeches in the plenary sessions, is also a strength of the conference where exchanging views and information is the main aim of the defence professionals.
Closed-door bilateral meetings between defence chiefs are also an important reason to be there. The first major one was held yesterday afternoon, between United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his South Korean counterpart Cho Yung Kil.
A planned 'press availability' session afterwards did not materialise. But the Deputy Minister for policy in South Korea's defence ministry, Mr Kwon An Do, dropped by the press room with a summary of the discussion.
Without giving details, he revealed that South Korea 'now plans to deploy additional troops for Operation Iraqi Freedom'.
Today, Mr Rumsfeld is expected to meet Australia's Defence Minister, Mr Robert Hill.
For some delegates, the purpose of the dialogue is not to talk or meet but to listen - intently. Vietnamese delegation head Major-General Nguyen Nhu Nuyen, deputy director of the Institute of Military Strategy, for example, said he had no major points to put across and merely wanted to 'hear what people have to say'.
Also saying he was there to listen was Boeing's Mr Albaugh - so his firm can 'respond to what policy makers decide'.
What no delegate brought up was any concern over security at the hotel, which had been dramatically escalated.
On every entry route to the Shangri-La, large tents with lights had sprung up where police officers can scrutinise each vehicle.
And at the hotel, two high-tech scanning devices, first used at February's Asian Aerospace exhibition, had been deployed to check cars for hidden bombs.
The Undercarriage Vehicle Screening System devices scan images that are downloaded into a database. Policemen can make cross-references and comparisons to spot suspicious objects.
Policemen, armed Gurkhas and guard dogs also dotted the landscape. Entering the hotel lobby meant braving a metal detector as well as an X-ray machine for belongings.
'It's rather inconvenient,' said a 45-year-old tourist from New Zealand. But at least, she added, 'the only worry I have right now is whether there'll be enough sun tomorrow for me to get my tan.'
