Pentagon Chief Says Iraq War Will Not Undermine The U.S. Role As An Asia Power

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Robert Gates is using his first Far East Asia trip as Pentagon chief to try to convince allies and potential enemies that the Iraq war has not weakened America's commitment to the

Friday, June 1st 2007, 7:29 am

By: News On 6

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Robert Gates is using his first Far East Asia trip as Pentagon chief to try to convince allies and potential enemies that the Iraq war has not weakened America's commitment to the region.

It's a message aimed not only at a rising China and a worrisome North Korea, but also at allies like Japan and South Korea that see a shifting security landscape at a time when U.S. forces are bogged down in Iraq.

``While we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and the global war on terror, we have no intention of neglecting Asia,'' Gates told reporters at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Honolulu, Hawaii on Thursday.

He met there with Adm. Timothy Keating, chief of the Pacific Command, before they flew together to Singapore to attend an Asia-Pacific security conference that has become a forum for U.S. defense officials to raise pointed questions about China's military buildup.

The Singapore visit also is an opportunity for Gates to meet separately with his counterparts from several Asian nations, including South Korea, where the decades-old alliance is facing strains. Also attending the weekend conference will be Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gates will address the conference on Saturday to highlight U.S. military humanitarian efforts in Asia and the Pacific and to underscore U.S. efforts to continue cooperation in counterterrorism campaigns. He is not expected to be as pointed in his remarks about China as his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, had been.

In Honolulu, Gates said the focus of his concern is not so much on details of China's military expansion but on the purposes it is meant to serve in an era in which no country is directly threatening China's own security.

``There's no question that the Chinese are building significant (military) capacity,'' he said. ``Our concern is over their intent.''

Every senior U.S. official who visits China, including Keating, who was there in mid-May, is pressing the Chinese to be more open about the long-term goals of their buildup.

``Tell us more about where you're headed. What are your intentions? That's the real issue,'' Gates said.

China has suggested that the United States, whose defense budget dwarfs China's, regularly exaggerates Chinese military power to justify raising U.S. defense spending. They also say it is to lend encouragement to Beijing's political rival, Taiwan, the autonomously governed island that China claims as its own.

Beijing has worked carefully over the past decade to play down security concerns among Asian neighbors over China's growing military strength. Meanwhile it has persisted in boosting defense spending _ including a 17.8 percent boost announced in March _ to acquire capabilities to intimidate Taiwan.

China was sending to the Singapore conference the deputy chief of its General Staff with responsibility for foreign affairs, Lt. Gen. Zhang Qinsheng _ the highest ranking Chinese officer ever to attend.

Keating, in remarks to reporters Thursday at his Pacific Command headquarters, said one of his goals is to develop better communication with the Chinese so that both sides understand each other more fully.

``It is complicated enough as is, and if there aren't open channels of communication, if there aren't better ways of communicating intent, the likelihood of a miscalculation increases,'' Keating said, referring to the possibility of a misunderstanding that could lead to an avoidable military conflict.

Washington has suggested several new ways of improving communication, including setting up a hot line phone connection with Beijing for use in emergencies, but the Chinese have balked.

In its annual assessment of China's military power, released last week, the Pentagon expressed concern at indications that China may be developing a capability to launch pre-emptive strikes at targets far from its shores. It also spotlighted the issue of deciphering Chinese leaders' true intentions by quoting former supreme leader Den Xiaping's guidance, known as the 24-character maxim, which says in part, ``Hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile.''

Gates said that in his address to the Singapore conference he would enumerate U.S. activities and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region to ``make quite clear that we remain deeply engaged, that we are actively engaged, that we've been an Asian power _ a Pacific power _ for a very long time and we intend to continue to be one.''

The U.S. military has roughly 100,000 troops assigned to the region, mainly air and ground forces in South Korea and Japan. Thousands of them, however, are temporarily in Iraq, adding to the perception of waning U.S. interest in Asia.