Enhanced US War Games in Asia-Pacific Reflects Shift of Strategic Focus

In a rare scene in many years, the United States is now simultaneously conducting three large-scale military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region under a common framework, which could suggest a shift of its strategic focus from Europe to Asia, local analysts said.

At a grandiose ceremony Tuesday morning at the Thai military airport of Phisanulok province, 377 kilometers north of Bangkok, US Ambassador to Thailand Richard Hecklinger and the Supreme Commander of Thai Armed Forces Sampao Choosri, with the presence of Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Pacific Command Dennis Blair and other high-ranking military officials, co-announced the opening of the Cobra Gold' 01 Multilateral Military Exercise.

"This is the first Cobra Gold to be part of the multilateral Team Challenge concept, which links existing exercises with Australia, Thailand and the Philippines-- Tandem Thrust, Cobra Gold and Balikataan -- to improve readiness and interoperability among our forces, and to increase security within the Asia-Pacific region," said Hecklinger in his opening speech.

The combined Team Challenge umbrella exercise, he said, also preserves the core bilateral training components of these individual exercises between US and the hosting countries.

This, in his view, is "an important way that the US can demonstrate its strong commitment to allies and friends in the region."

Earlier, the US military has launched a three-week-long Balikatan ("shoulder by shoulder") exercise in six regions of the Philippines since April 27, which involved over 6,000 soldiers from both countries. The Balikatan resumed in 1999 after being suspended for three years.

In Australia's northeast Shoalwater Bay, the four-yearly TandemThrust exercise is going on, with participation of some 27,00 0 Australian and U.S. military personnel, tanks, artillery, aircraft and warships, in a rarely-seen large-scale operations in the western Pacific during recent years.

Under the multilateral framework of Team Challenge, the three separate exercises are to be linked in the U.S.-led training of maritime, air and army forces, said a local U.S. diplomatic source.

Among these three exercises, the Cobra Gold is featured by its tendency to develop into a broad multilateral war games.

Started in 1982, Cobra Gold has long been a bilateral military operation between Thailand and U.S. until Singapore joined in last year, when its scale reached the peak of mobilizing over 20,000 personnel.

This year, some 10,848 recruits will do the mock battle between May 15 and 29 in Thailand's western Third Army Area, in which Thailand, U.S. and Singapore send 5,820, 4,973 and 55 soldiers respectively.

Blair, the U.S. commander-in-chief in Pacific indicated at the press conference after Tuesday's opening ceremony that his country hopes to enlarge the exercise and attract more countries to participate.

He noted that the number of observer countries has increased from three to nine this year, including the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and France.

"The enlargement of the exercise is in the interests of all countries, and is for the future stability in the region, " said the U.S. admiral.

Echoing the rhetoric, a newly-released Pentagon-sponsored study recommended U.S. to create new arrangements in Southeast Asia to give the U.S. military access to ports and airfields that could be used in times of crisis, while maintaining traditional military ties to Japan and South Korea.

As local analysts noticed, the enhanced exercises in Asia-Pacific and the idea of strengthening U.S. military ties with its Asian allies, happened at a time when the new U.S. government is reviewing its military priorities and programs.

The U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is reportedly seeking final approval of his military plans from president Bush, has outlined a broad shift from planning for a major war in Europe-- which dominated U.S. defense thinking before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991-- toward more emphasis on Asia.

A U.S. army officer told Xinhua at the scene of Cobra Gold opening ceremony that so far this year U.S. has held over seventy military exercises in the Asia-Pacific, much of them are large-scaled.

Local analysts said a striking feature of the recent US military activities is that it holds various kinds of war games with countries in Asia-Pacific more frequently, with upgraded scales and influences.

The recent shifting of military focus from west toward east reflects a U.S. objective to better control the situations in both European and Asian continents, and it is driven by its great economic, strategic and military interests in the Asia-Pacific region, said analysts.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/