[A-List] US imperialism: Central & East Asia

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

US reaps strategic bonus in Asia
By Rahul Bedi
Asia Times, September 11 2002

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.