On October 13 South Korea for the first time hosted an exercise of the U.S.-formed Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) naval interdiction operation, launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 with initial emphasis on Asia but which in the interim has assumed a global scope. [12]
To end on October 22, it involves the participation of 14 nations including the U.S., Canada, France, Australia and Japan, which are contributing a guided missile destroyer, maritime patrol planes and anti-submarine helicopters.
Six years ago Admiral Thomas Fargo, at the time head of U.S. Pacific Command, promoted a Regional Maritime Security Initiative which was described as "grow[ing] out of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)" and designed to "deploy US marines with high-speed boats to guard the Malacca Straits...." [13] Both Indonesia and Malaysia objected to the plan to station American military forces off their coasts.
In January of 2009 NATO announced plans for the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), part of the NATO Response Force of up to 25,000 troops designed for global missions, to engage in "a six-month deployment to the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean" and to travel "through areas such as the Strait of Malacca, Java and the South China sea, an area of the world that is not frequented by NATO fleets." [14] The Indian Ocean, which the Pentagon divides between its Central Command, Africa Command and Pacific Command, is now also being patrolled by NATO warships. [15]
The SNMG1, which was the first NATO naval group to circumnavigate the African continent two years before, was diverted to the Gulf of Aden for NATO's Operation Allied Provider begun in April of 2009 and succeeded in August with the still active Operation Ocean Shield. Also last April, the NATO naval group, with warships from Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, arrived in Karachi, Pakistan "to conduct a two-day joint naval exercise with the Pakistan Navy in the North Arabian Sea" [16] en route to Singapore. According to the Alliance, "The deployment of warships in South East Asia demonstrates the high value NATO places on its relationship with other partners across the globe...." [17]
Just as the U.S. has reactivated Cold War-era military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region in the first decade of this century, [18] so have its main NATO allies.
Shortly after Washington deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln nuclear-powered supercarrier with "F/A-18C Hornet, F/A-18E/F super Hornet, C-2A Greyhound, MH-60R Seahawk and MH-60S Seahawk helicopters and other fighter jets" [19] to the Port Klang Cruise Centre in Malaysia this month, the defense ministers of the United Kingdom-initiated Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) collective - whose members are Britain, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore - met in the capital of Singapore for the 13th FPDA Defence Chiefs' Conference.
"The Defence Chiefs...issued the FPDA Exercise Concept Directive during the conference.
"The directive aims to guide the development of future FPDA exercises and activities to strengthen interoperability and interactions between the armed forces of the five member countries.
"It also aims to further enhance the FPDA's capacity in conducting conventional and non-conventional operations...." [20] The five defense chiefs then left Singapore to attend the opening ceremony of Exercise Bersama Padu 2010 at the Butterworth Airbase in the Malaysian state of Penang on October 15.
The military exercise continues to October 29 and includes "13 ships and 63 aircraft from the five FPDA countries working together in a multi-threat environment." [21]
The FPDA was set up in 1971, at the height of the Cold War, and along with similar military groups - NATO most prominently - has not only continued but expanded in the post-Cold War period.
According to the Australian Department of Defence, Bersama Padu 2010, "is a three-week exercise [commenced on October 11] designed to enhance regional security in the area.
"The exercise, which is part of the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), will take place at various locations across the Malaysian Peninsula as well as the South China Sea." It includes four Australian warships and eight F/A-18 multirole fighter jets. Australian Lieutenant General Mark Evans, Chief of Joint Operations, said "the FPDA countries shared a common interest in the security and stability of the region, and the exercise would enhance the interoperability of the combined air, ground and naval forces of member nations." [22]
All five FPDA members are engaged in NATO's war in Afghanistan as part of a historically unprecedented exercise in warfighting interoperability with some 45 other nations. Britain has the second largest amount of troops assigned to NATO's International Security Assistance Force, an estimated 9,500, and Australia the most of any non-NATO member state, 1,550. [23]
Afghanistan is the training ground for a global expeditionary NATO. And for a rapidly emerging Asian NATO, one which is being prepared to confront China in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
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