| |
US reaps strategic bonus in
Asia
By Rahul Bedi
NEW DELHI
- The events of September 11 have, ironically, turned
out to be a strategic bonus for Washington, helping it
spread its wings and extend its military presence across
Asia.
Through a complex web of alliances,
ostensibly to fight the scourge of terrorism, backed by
economic sops and clever strategic agreements, the
world's lone superpower has maneuvered not only to
exploit the Central Asian republics' vast energy
resources, but also to encircle China, its potential
economic and military rival.
Nowadays, the US
military presence is palpable not only in Kabul,
Islamabad and Central Asian nations such as Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Krgyzstan - which are vital to US oil
conglomerates anxious to begin laying pipelines to the
Arabian sea - but also in varying degrees in India, Sri
Lanka, Nepal and to a lesser extent in Myanmar.
Further east, the US military is combating
groups with supposed ties with al-Qaeda in the
Philippines, besides bolstering its presence in
Indonesia and the South China Sea.
And while
seizing the opportunity to obtain its long-term energy
and security interests, the United States has changed
all rules of engagement. In its military alliances,
especially in Central Asia, it has either downplayed or
ignored human rights considerations among its newfound
allies - and in some cases even rewarded them.
Desperate for an alternative to the turbulent
Arab states for its petroleum needs, the United States
has emerged as the leading foreign investor in Central
Asia's energy sector, declaring that it wants to promote
political and economic stability there. Loosely
translated, this means it wants peace to ensure profit.
Washington's opening gambit immediately after
September 11 was, predictably, in Central Asia, whose
strategic location was vital in executing its campaign
against the Taliban. The Central Asian nations, aware of
their geographical importance, also sensed a golden
economic opportunity in the offing. Subsequently, a
continuing partnership of convenience was cemented.
And though US officials are at pains to stress
that the American presence in the Central Asian states
is not an extended one, Washington's support for their
authoritarian regimes, economic and military largesse
and construction of near-permanent bases, seem to
suggest otherwise.
These latent intentions have
been further disproved by assurances of more military
aid to the region and money to acquire US weaponry, with
a view to bolstering America's military industrial
complex that was rapidly shrinking before the September
attacks.
"The moment [September 11] was greedily
seized upon by Washington to re-enter, without any
opposition, its old Cold War stamping ground in Asia for
maximizing profit," a Western diplomat in Delhi said.
While Islamabad and Kabul remain crucial to US
interests, Washington and Delhi, despite vociferous
denials by both, are subtly forging long-term military
and security alliances aimed at containing China. Such a
partnership suits India, which has termed China its
"number one enemy", despite the recent flurry of
diplomatic overtures to Beijing for peace and
tranquility.
The December meeting of the Defense
Policy Group (DPG) and the subsequent signing of the
General Security of Military Information Agreement
(GSOMIA) by India's minister George Fernandes in
Washington ensured the sharing of military intelligence
between India and the United States.
In April,
India bought eight US-built Firefinder weapon-locating
radar for US$146 million in the first major American
defense contract in over four decades, while Washington
cleared the sale of 20 other military items to Delhi. In
trying to "surround" China, the United States has a
willing ally in India's military.
A recent
Indian navy analysis pinpoints China's nuclear
capability and modernized navy as its primary concern in
the 21st century. In the report "Strategic Review - The
Maritime Dimension", the navy declared that the power
vacuum in the Indian Ocean region in the 21st century
can only be filled by India, China or Japan either by
"complete pre-eminence or by a mutual stand-off". In
either case, the situation entails serious security
implications for India, an insecurity that Washington is
now fully exploiting.
China is rapidly
modernizing its navy with a view to increasing its
presence in the Indian Ocean by 2020. The People's
Liberation Army navy has the second largest navy in
Asia, after Russia. In keeping with China's revised
doctrine of waging "modern warfare under high technology
conditions on the high seas", it is focusing on
developing a "bluewater" naval capability centered
around at least two aircraft carrier battle groups for
the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. China has also
declared the navy its senior service.
India
claims that as part of Beijing's "encirclement policy",
China is establishing a signals Intelligence facility on
the Great Cocos island, 40 nautical miles from the
Andaman Islands, to monitor shipping in the Malacca
Straits and frequent missile tests off Orissa state's
east coast.
Meantime, the Bush administration
has asked Congress for $20 million in unspecified,
non-lethal military aid for Nepal, including body armor,
night vision devices and varied equipment for the
grossly under-equipped, near medieval Royal Nepal Army
that is desperately battling Maoist rebels. Working in
tandem with the British are around 40 US "low profile
advisors", a euphemism for security specialists, who
were recently posted in Kathmandu.
These
undercover advisors are reportedly helping the RNA and
the near-defunct National Intelligence Directorate
modernize to ably counter the six-year-old Maoist
insurgency. The US ambassador to Kathmandu, Michael
Mallinowski, was earlier posted in Peshawar, Pakistan.
"From the United States, we need material
assistance such as weapons, equipment and training to
fight the terrorists and financial assistance to fight
budgetary constraints," Prakash Sharan Mahat, advisor to
caretaker premier Sher Nahadur Deuba, said recently.
Finally, in Sri Lanka, under Operation Balanced Style,
US Sea Air Land Forces (SEALS), specialists have begun
training the country's army and navy, while police teams
are being sent to the United States for anti-terrorism
courses. Military cooperation has also been extended to
the island nation's air force, which operates a wide
range of Israeli-made combat aircraft.
With an
eye on eastern Sri Lanka's Trincomalee port as a staging
point for its assets based at Diego Garcia, Washington
has also pressured the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
to persevere in its peace offensive with the Sri Lankan
government.
Trincomalee is one of the world's
biggest natural deep-sea harbors that "controls" the
Indian Ocean. Through a combination of diplomacy,
bullying and astute bargaining, a paranoid India had,
over several years, somehow managed to prevent outside
powers from having access to Trincomalee.
One of
the key clauses of the 1987 accord that led to the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) arriving in Sri Lanka
that year declared that Trincomalee would not be
controlled by any foreign power "inimical" to India.
But with the United States now India's most
coveted ally, Delhi is unlikely to object to Washington
neatly tying up all the strategic bonds to fully
dominate the Asian region.
(Inter Press Service)
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
