SINGAPORE: The U.S. role in Asia-Pacific security and ties between regional superpowers China and India will dominate an annual security conference of defense ministers and top officials this weekend.
The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue — named after the Singapore hotel where it is held each year — begins Friday, and will bring together delegates from 26 countries including the United States, India, China, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.
"The security summit will help to shape the inter-governmental debate between the states of the Asia-Pacific and the major outside powers on the key security issues facing the region," said a statement by the organizers, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
It has declined to reveal the names of those attending until the meeting starts for security reasons.
Issues to be addressed include U.S.-Asia security relations, the impact of relations between India and China on international stability, the challenges of nuclear proliferation, the dangers posed by fragile states, reforms in the security sector, progress in counterterrorism and maritime security and security cooperation in Asia.
The United States has large security interests in the region because of its deep trade ties and billions of dollars worth of investments, and often holds regular military exercises with Asia-Pacific countries to maintain defense ties.
Defense relations between India and China, who fought a border war in 1962, have improved steadily in recent years.
Earlier this month, they decided to start periodic joint military training exercises even though their dispute over a 129,500 square-kilometer (50,000 square-mile) area along their mountainous frontier remains unresolved.
But China's growing military might and defense spending still worries other countries in the region, and the United States.
China announced in March it would boost military spending by 17.8 percent in 2007 to 350.92 billion yuan (US$44.94 billion; €34.14 billion), the biggest jump in more than a decade. But a report by the Pentagon estimated that real spending was two to three times higher.
India allocated 960 billion rupees (US$21.7 billion; €16.4 billion) for defense spending for 2007-2008, up from 890 billion rupees (US$20.1 billion; €15.2 billion) last year, indicating New Delhi would continue its heavy spending on new hardware.
India's 1.3 million-member army is one of the world's largest but is hampered by outdated equipment — much of it Soviet-era relics. To remedy this, India has gone on a major arms buying spree in recent years.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver the conference's keynote address, after which officials will hold bilateral discussions and round-table meetings.
This year's Shangri-La meeting is the sixth since the dialogue was set up by the IISS, with support from Singapore.
