The London Financial times characterized the concern
as follows:
"Malaysia and Indonesia oppose a proposal by
Washington to deploy US marines with high-speed boats
to guard the Malacca Straits, one of the world's
busiest shipping lanes....
"The Regional Maritime Security Initiative was
disclosed during congressional testimony last week by
Admiral Thomas Fargo, head of the US Pacific Command.
"The proposal grows out of the Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI)...."
(Financial Times, April 5, 2004)
Almost two years later Indonesian Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirajuda, in rejecting participation in the
PSI, explained his nation's opposition:
"'If Indonesia joined the initiative, the United
States or others big countries can conduct an
interdiction to check whether the ships passing the
waters carrying out materials links to mass
destruction weapon,' said [FM Hassan Wirajuda]
"In addition, the initiative was not initiated through
a multilateral process, but only a group of nations
that have a common goal to conduct a certain
initiatives, Wirajuda said.
"The initiative was against the convention of
international law on marine, the United Nations
Convention on the Law on the Sea of 1982, Wirajuda
stressed."
(Xinhua News Agency, March 17, 2006)
It didn't take much time to confirm Indonesia's and
Malaysia's apprehensions.
In August of 2005 the US, Britain, Australia, New
Zealand and Japan conducted Exercise Deep Sabre as
part of the Proliferation Security Initiative from
Singapore's Changi Naval Base in the South China Sea.
China's Xinhua News Agency provided this description:
"Exercise Deep Saber (XDS)...involves some
2,000 personnel from the military, coast guard,
customs and other agencies of 13 PSI countries
including Singapore, the United States, Britain and
Australia, as well as ten surface vessels and six
maritime patrol aircraft."
(Xinhua News Agency, August 15, 2005)
Another nation in the Far East that has refused to
join the PSI, which now has 70 affiliated countries,
is South Korea.
It fears that its neighbor to the north will interpret
a unilateral naval blockade of its shoreline and
forcible storming and impounding of its vessels as
what they are - acts of war - and that a new
full-scale peninsular war might ensue.
Three years ago North Korean state media raised just
such a prospect.
"North Korea warned South Korea against
sparking a 'nuclear war' by joining a US-led
international drill aimed at intercepting weapons of
mass destruction, state media reported.
"South Korea said last month it would send a team to
'observe' a US-led Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI) drill off Australia in April
"Minju Joson, the North's government-published
newspaper, also warned Saturday that Seoul's joining
the drill would 'bar the inter-Korean relations from
favorably developing and entail ... a nuclear war to
the Korean Peninsula.'"
(Agence France-Presse, February 12, 2006)
Today's Agence France-Presse reports on a 'study' by
the American Council on Foreign Relations which states
"The United States and its allies might
have to deploy up to 460,000 soldiers to North Korea
to stabilize the country if it collapses and an
insurgency erupts, a private U.S. study said Jan. 28."
The precise number of troops stipulated suggests the
CFR analysis is hardly an academic one.
And it rather blithely mentions in passing that:
"'North Korea abuts two great powers - China and
Russia - that have important interests at stake in the
future of the peninsula. That they would become
actively engaged in any future crisis involving North
Korea is virtually guaranteed.'"
as follows:
"Malaysia and Indonesia oppose a proposal by
Washington to deploy US marines with high-speed boats
to guard the Malacca Straits, one of the world's
busiest shipping lanes....
"The Regional Maritime Security Initiative was
disclosed during congressional testimony last week by
Admiral Thomas Fargo, head of the US Pacific Command.
"The proposal grows out of the Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI)...."
(Financial Times, April 5, 2004)
Almost two years later Indonesian Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirajuda, in rejecting participation in the
PSI, explained his nation's opposition:
"'If Indonesia joined the initiative, the United
States or others big countries can conduct an
interdiction to check whether the ships passing the
waters carrying out materials links to mass
destruction weapon,' said [FM Hassan Wirajuda]
"In addition, the initiative was not initiated through
a multilateral process, but only a group of nations
that have a common goal to conduct a certain
initiatives, Wirajuda said.
"The initiative was against the convention of
international law on marine, the United Nations
Convention on the Law on the Sea of 1982, Wirajuda
stressed."
(Xinhua News Agency, March 17, 2006)
Malaysia's apprehensions.
In August of 2005 the US, Britain, Australia, New
Zealand and Japan conducted Exercise Deep Sabre as
part of the Proliferation Security Initiative from
Singapore's Changi Naval Base in the South China Sea.
China's Xinhua News Agency provided this description:
"Exercise Deep Saber (XDS)...involves some
2,000 personnel from the military, coast guard,
customs and other agencies of 13 PSI countries
including Singapore, the United States, Britain and
Australia, as well as ten surface vessels and six
maritime patrol aircraft."
(Xinhua News Agency, August 15, 2005)
Another nation in the Far East that has refused to
join the PSI, which now has 70 affiliated countries,
is South Korea.
It fears that its neighbor to the north will interpret
a unilateral naval blockade of its shoreline and
forcible storming and impounding of its vessels as
what they are - acts of war - and that a new
full-scale peninsular war might ensue.
Three years ago North Korean state media raised just
such a prospect.
"North Korea warned South Korea against
sparking a 'nuclear war' by joining a US-led
international drill aimed at intercepting weapons of
mass destruction, state media reported.
"South Korea said last month it would send a team to
'observe' a US-led Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI) drill off Australia in April
"Minju Joson, the North's government-published
newspaper, also warned Saturday that Seoul's joining
the drill would 'bar the inter-Korean relations from
favorably developing and entail ... a nuclear war to
the Korean Peninsula.'"
(Agence France-Presse, February 12, 2006)
Today's Agence France-Presse reports on a 'study' by
the American Council on Foreign Relations which states
"The United States and its allies might
have to deploy up to 460,000 soldiers to North Korea
to stabilize the country if it collapses and an
insurgency erupts, a private U.S. study said Jan. 28."
The precise number of troops stipulated suggests the
CFR analysis is hardly an academic one.
And it rather blithely mentions in passing that:
"'North Korea abuts two great powers - China and
Russia - that have important interests at stake in the
future of the peninsula. That they would become
actively engaged in any future crisis involving North
Korea is virtually guaranteed.'"
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