British Defense Chief Claims to Use Military Capabilities around WorldBritish defense Chief has claimed that his country's interests are not confined to Europe, the Mediterranean littoral and the Gulf and is prepared to use its capabilities outside these areas and determined to play an active role in the Asian region.Delivering a speech to the Distinguished Lecture Wednesday hosted by the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies of Singapore, British Secretary of State for Defense Geoffrey Hoon said that "Our 1998 Strategic Defense Review identified Europe, the Mediterranean littoral and the Gulf as the area in which the United Kingdom's defense interests are most likely to be affected. ... But that is not to say that our vital interests are confined to them." "When necessary we must be prepared to use our military capabilities outside these areas on a case-by-case basis," he underlined. "As our Strategic Defense Review recognized, where we can use our defense resources to reduce tensions around the world, we should do. That is what Defense Diplomacy is about," Geoffrey Hoon added. Geoffrey Hoon said that the United Kingdom has a "long-standing " and "wide-raging" interest in the Asian region and is determined to continue to play an active role in the region despite its withdrawal from Hong Kong. He also said that his country has a wider interest "in supporting international order and in promoting freedom, democracy and prosperity" and "needs to be able to respond to such problems as necessary, drawing on the range of civil, diplomatic, economic and military means at our disposal." On security challenge in this part of the world, Hoon claimed that the issues of Taiwan Straits, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and South Korea, as well as the South China Sea are the "most obvious" tensions that have the potential to draw in the international community. He said that international pressure on Indonesia to resolve ethnic and religious conflicts will be maintained and further tensions may be caused by ethnic and territorial disputes, competition for energy resources, the creeping proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the regional trend towards acquiring very long range weapons technology. He also listed drugs, organized crime, terrorism and environmental damage as "other risks that threaten our security by attacking our way of life." "Many of these issues require international solutions, and I do believe that Britain has something to offer here," he claimed. Bragging about Britain's military force deployment in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and East Timor, Geoffrey Hoon said that "Our forces should not only defend the United Kingdom and its interests, but also help to prevent and contain crisis." "Britain's use of military power to influence events in the world is not new -- defense diplomacy, in whatever guise, has been around for a long time," he added. Geoffrey Hoon is on a two-day introductory visit to Singapore where he has called on Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Tony Tan and will call on Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew today. His program also includes visits to Changi Naval Base and Singapore Technologies Kinetics. |
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