U.S. set to up Asian maritime security

U.S. set to up Asian maritime security

Richard Hubbard, Reuters, Singapore

Washington will seek to win over skeptical Southeast Asia to U.S. plans for increased security in the area's busy shipping lanes when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits Asia this week, analysts said.

Widely reported comments by a U.S. admiral in March that U.S. special forces or the Marines could be used to enhance security in the busy Malacca Strait sparked open opposition from both Malaysia and Indonesia which straddle the key waterway.

The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, links trading and oil centers in the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Over 50,000 commercial vessels travel the 805-km channel between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula to Singapore each year.

"I think Rumsfeld will want to do some damage control on this issue to try and get it viewed in a more positive light by regional countries, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia," said Michael Richardson, a researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

The United States has not held any formal talks with Asian nations on its plan for a Regional Maritime Security Initiative (RMSI), but knows it must smooth the diplomatic waters if it to be successful.

"The ball is in the U.S. court to pacify Indonesia and Malaysia and get the issue back on the table," said a Western diplomat in Singapore.

Singapore's deputy prime minister and Co-Ordinating Minister for Security and Defense, Tony Tan, has repeatedly warned there is mounting evidence that terror networks such as the Jamaah Islamiyah are preparing for a sea-borne attack.

"The threat of a commercial vessel or cruise liner being hijacked and used a floating bomb against Singapore is a very serious one," he told reporters during a recent inspection of security preparations around the city state's ports.

Singapore, one of Washington's closest Asian allies and commander of a large security force in Strait, wants nations that benefit from trade carried along the waterways of the region, such as the United States and Japan, to contribute to policing.

The tiny, wealthy island of Singapore has already tightened security around key installations such as the airport and chemical refineries after foiling Jamaah Islamiyah plots to bomb Western targets such as embassies and visiting U.S. naval vessels.

Currently around 37 suspected militants have been detained in Singapore under the tough Internal Security Act for terror- related activities linked to the bombing plots.

Washington is likely to outline its proposal for the RMSI at a meeting of defense officials around the region gathering in Singapore this weekend.

The Asia Security Conference held by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, dubbed the "Shangri-La Dialogue" after the hotel where it is held, is in its third year as a major forum for discussions on regional security and defense issues.

Richardson, author of a book on maritime security entitled A Time Bomb for Global Trade, said the United States will be looking to Asian nations to give their input into the plan before publishing it in any detail.

"It's a proposal that ought to be looked at afresh by the region given the seriousness of piracy and the concerns that the shipping industry is expressing. And potentially maritime-related terrorism," he said.

According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, one-third of the 445 cases of recorded pirate attacks last year occurred in Indonesian waters, including the Malacca Strait. Analysts said it was likely Rumsfeld would also try to court more regional support for the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) designed to disrupt and stop trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.

Russia this week became the 15th core member of the PSI, which improves the legal structure for inspecting arms shipments, tighten controls over exports of nuclear materials and removes barriers for intelligence sharing between countries.

"The perpetrators are observed to be well-trained and to have well laid-out plans," he said. "This could signal the start of serious preparations for a maritime terrorist attack."