S'pore, RI hold joint exercises

S'pore, RI hold joint exercises

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore's top military officer said yesterday the country must be ready to cope with any threats to regional stability.

Lt. Gen. Bey Soo Khiang, chief of Singapore's Defense Forces, was speaking as Singapore opened bi-annual exercises with the Indonesian navy.

"From an SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) perspective, there are really no immediate threats," Bey told Reuters in an interview.

"But what we want to say is that a threat can be realized or can rear its ugly head very quickly...like the Taiwan Strait crisis," he said.

Tensions rose last March when war games and missile tests by China in waters off Taiwan cast a shadow over the island's first presidential election.

Washington then ordered two aircraft carrier battle groups into the area, triggering a row with Beijing, which suspected the United States was supporting what China saw as Nationalist-ruled Taiwan's moves towards independence.

"So the SAF cannot wait for threats to be realized. We have to anticipate, think ahead and try and build a well-balanced, capable SAF, able to respond to various forms of flashpoints or threats," Bey said.

The SAF must accomplish its mission at a time when the manpower supply in Singapore is very tight. He said Singapore's strong economic growth has made retention of military personnel difficult at times.

"We just have to be realistic and face the situation and think of creative solutions to go around the problem," Bey said, adding that one way is greater use of automation in military operations.

Units of the Singapore and Indonesian navies opened yesterday the 14th bi-annual naval exercise between the two countries. The exercise, called Ex Eagle, will end in Jakarta on Nov. 26, a joint statement by the two navies said.

The ships will hold their exercises in the Singapore Strait, South China Sea and Java Sea. It will conduct day and night encounter exercises, anti-submarine warfare, a minefield transit exercise and practice surface target firing.

The Singaporean navy will be led by two missile corvettes and one navy gunboat, among others. The Indonesian navy will be represented by a patrol ship and two torpedo patrol boats.

More than 500 sailors and officers from the two countries will take part in the naval exercise.