SINGAPORE: When US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attends a security summitin Singapore this weekend, he hopes to assure allies of America’scommitment to the region and its aim of checking China’s seeminglyinexorable rise.
But the issue the Pentagon chief may well be faced with most often is onehe would prefer not to weigh in on: what on Earth will happen between NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump?
Mattis, whose department has spent years refining military options againstNorth Korea and its nuclear programme, wants to steer clear of speculationsurrounding a possible meeting between the two leaders.
“We continue with the diplomatically-led campaign,” Mattis told reportersas he headed to the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore, referring questionson the issue to the State Department.
Events between the US and North Korea have been evolving rapidly, after themercurial Trump called off a historic summit with Kim, only to immediatelyreverse course.
The two men are now apparently back on track to meet in June, also inSingapore.
So, instead of focusing on the possible summit with North Korea, Mattiswants to push the message that Washington is steadfast in its backing ofthe Asia-Pacific region.
“All I am doing is saying we are unwavering in our focus out here and weare unapologetic about… standing with our allies and our partners,” Mattissaid.
He tackled the same topic at Shangri-La a year ago, months after Trump tookoffice with his “America First” agenda.
The president’s campaign rhetoric left allies fretting over whether the USwould turn its back on Asia, where it has underwritten maritime securitysince the end of World War II.
Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at theCenter for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Mattis’spitch is a tougher sell this year.
Trump’s “on-again off-again threat of (tariffs) against China and hisabrupt cancelling of the talks with (Kim) and then just as abruptly tryingto schedule them again makes Trump’s administration appear highly erraticand unpredictable,” Hiebert told AFP.
And over the past year, he noted, China has continued its military build upin the disputed South China Sea, including landing bombers on Woody Islandand deploying surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles on other contestedfeatures – ignoring Washington’s call for it not to do so.
“Mattis can probably still call China out for doing what Xi Jinping hadpromised China wouldn’t do, but this message will soon sound hollow,”Hiebert said.
The Pentagon last week rescinded its invitation to China to join maritimeexercises in the Pacific over Beijing’s “continued militarisation” of theSouth China Sea, and the US military periodically conducts “freedom ofnavigation” operations to defy China’s territorial claims.
But overall, despite Washington’s warnings of China’s rising might, Beijinghas faced few consequences for its military buildup in the region.
Trump has also given conflicting messages on global trade and imposingtariffs on Beijing, and experts warn the US is ceding leadership to China.
“Most countries in the region which are part of the global supply chain areanxious that they will be impacted by a trade war between China and theUS,” Hiebert said.
Mattis is giving a speech Saturday but this year’s keynote is by IndianPrime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expected to outline India’s growingregional role.
The Pentagon is renaming its oldest and largest military command to reflectthe growing importance of India and the Indian Ocean in US strategicthinking.
From now on, the storied US Pacific Command, or PACOM, will be known as theIndo-Pacific Command.
The name change is largely symbolic but in 2016 the United Statesdesignated India a “major defence partner” with the aim of improvingmilitary cooperation, increasing information-sharing and cutting red tapeto ease defence deals.
“Given China’s assertiveness, India is seen as the only country that can,with the US, play a role in offsetting China’s pull because India also hasissues with China,” Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow at the Delhi-basedObserver Research Foundation, told AFP.
But what allies “will be looking for is practical measures, not mereslogans and declarations.” – APP/AFP