Pacific area military chiefs meet to discuss security
Pacific area military chiefs meet to discuss security
Reuters, Singapore
The threat of regional terror is expected to be high on the agenda of a Singapore gathering of military chiefs from around Asia that also includes the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Thomas Fargo.
The 22-nation gathering, which began on Friday, comes weeks after the Bali bomb blasts and a spate of deadly explosions in the Philippines and warnings from regional governments and the United States that more terror attacks in the region were likely.
Delegates at the closed-door meeting are not expected to release any statement at its conclusion on Sunday, diplomatic sources said.
"It's an annual gathering and is not related to the events of September 11 or the aftermath," said one Western diplomat.
However, a spokeswoman for Singapore's Defense Department said the military chiefs would discuss cooperation on transnational threats such as terrorism and drug trafficking as well as peacekeeping operations and disaster relief.
The gathering is taking place under tight security in the city state, long regarded as a safe haven in a turbulent region, which earlier this year arrested 31 suspected Muslim militants believed to have been plotting to bomb targets including a U.S. logistics base and Western embassies.
The government said it was the fifth time the annual Asia Pacific Chief of Defense Conference had been held, and the first time it had gathered outside Hawaii, the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command.
The Command is responsible for U.S. military forces in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas and numbers 300,000 personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
Among the countries represented at the Singapore meeting are Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, France, South Korea, India, Thailand and the Philippines.
Heads of government from 14 Asian countries including China, Japan, India and South Korea meet in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh over the next four days to discuss security and trade in the wake of the Bali bombings.