[R-G] War Games Muddy APEC Summit

[Anthony Fenton]

ASIA PACIFIC:  War Games Muddy APEC Summit
By Antoaneta Bezlova
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39177
Credit:US Navy

The USS Nimitz is one of three aircraft carriers taking part in war  
games off India's coast

BEIJING, Sep 7 (IPS) - China’s display of economic clout and  
diplomatic assertiveness at the Asia Pacific leaders’ forum in Sydney  
this week has been overshadowed by a concurrent show of power in the  
Bay of Bengal where the United States is leading four Asia-Pacific  
countries in the largest war games ever held in the region.

Analysts see the joint naval exercises, involving warships from the  
U.S., India, Australia, Japan and Singapore, as part of a strategic  
design by Washington to strengthen ties in Asia at a time when China  
is trying to project its growing military might. The games, dubbed  
Malabar 07-02, follow smaller naval exercises held by India, Japan  
and the U.S. in the western Pacific earlier this year.

China has watched both the exercises and the security talks that  
accompany them with rising unease. Beijing protested when India,  
Japan and the U.S. met in June with Australia for talks on a new  
"Quadrilateral Initiative" and demanded an official explanation.

Beijing has also attacked the agenda of the three-way security talks  
on Saturday among Australia, Japan and the U.S., on the sidelines of  
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, as lacking in  
transparency.

APEC 'member economies', include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,  
China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea,  
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the  
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the U.S.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard was quick to defend the  
Saturday talks as an "expression of the commonality of interests that  
three Pacific democracies have". But to Beijing this argument sounds  
uncannily similar to Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe’s call for the  
establishing of an "Asian arc of freedom and prosperity", which  
excludes China. On a recent visit to India, Abe described his vision  
of the arc as one made up of democracies across the Indian and  
Pacific Oceans and cited India, the U.S., Australia and Japan as  
components.

Yet while Beijing understands Japan’s motives in seeking allies as it  
nervously watches its neighbour’s economic and military rise, it  
still suspects that the ongoing re-alignment of powers in Asia is  
ultimately driven by the U.S.

"We are watching the rekindling of the Cold War mentality in  
Washington’s efforts to find allies and partners while beefing up its  
military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, East Europe and South  
Asia, apart from occupying Iraq indefinitely," said an opinion piece  
in the state-sanctioned China Daily in August.

The author Fu Mengzi -- a research fellow at the Chinese Institute of  
Contemporary International Relations, argued that the U.S. is intent  
on energising the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in  
addition to building an "alliance of the willing", with an "obsession  
with forging military relations with non-allies".

The U.S. Japan and Australia have no formal three-way alliance  
agreement yet, but recent months have seen a flurry of diplomatic  
talks and negotiations aimed at upgrading their security arrangements.

In March Japan and Australia signed a joint security declaration,  
which outlined a joint strategy covering military exercises,  
intelligence sharing and cooperation in counter-terrorism and weapons  
of mass destruction.

Another security agreement -- between Canberra and Washington, is  
expected to be announced at the end of this week’s security talks on  
the sidelines of the APEC forum.

China’s official response to what its analysts perceive as an attempt  
at encirclement by these three countries has been to bid for openness  
and try to appease their fears.

Before the start of the APEC forum, Beijing made a surprise  
announcement that it has decided to submit an annual report on its  
military spending and imports and exports of conventional arms to the  
United Nations. The Foreign Ministry said the decision was aimed at  
dismissing growing international concerns over China’s rapid military  
build-up.

"These are two important decisions of the Chinese government in the  
field of military transparency," the ministry said in a statement on  
its website.

The pledge for more transparency comes amid vocal international  
concerns about China’s military spending, which has been growing at a  
double-digit rate nearly every year since the 1990s. This year saw a  
17.8 percent boost of China’s military budget to about 45 billion US  
dollars.

Last week China’s defence chief also made a powerful bid to allay  
regional fears. During a visit to Japan, General Cao Gangchuan said  
China’s military build-up is geared towards self-defence.

"Those who speak of the theory of China as a military threat are  
ignorant of the situation and their claims are unfounded," Cao said  
in his public address.

The general’s visit to Japan -- the first by a Chinese defence  
minister since 1998, marks a cautious attempt by Beijing to court the  
revival of bilateral relations after they turned frosty under former  
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The two sides agreed to allow a  
Chinese warship to visit Japan for the first time and try to set up a  
crisis hotline.

Beijing has also taken a cautious line in regard to U.S. attempts to  
woo New Delhi to play a more prominent role in the emerging Asian  
axis of democracies and refrained from openly criticising a  
controversial civilian nuclear accord signed between the two sides.

The deal, which was signed last year, enables the U.S. and other  
countries to supply New Delhi with nuclear technology and fuels  
without India having to give up its nuclear arms or sign the Nuclear  
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

As a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which needs to  
reach a consensus on the pact to validate it, China could use its  
vote to block the deal. But hinting that the deal has given rise to  
opposition from different sides, the Foreign Ministry has remained  
relatively calm in its reaction.

"We have also noted that within the NSG there are different views  
about relaxing the restrictions on nuclear exports to India,"  
ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news briefing Thursday. "China  
believes that, with the precondition of abiding by their  
international responsibilities, all countries can develop cooperation  
in the peaceful exploration of nuclear power."

But, while courting U.S. allies in Asia, China has continued to forge  
closer relations with Russia and the Shanghai Cooperation  
Organisation (SCO), which includes the Central Asian republics. This  
summer the organisation held its second joint military manoeuvres,  
"Peace Mission 2007", which bolstered the increasingly military  
profile of this regional body.

(END/2007)