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HIGH-FLIERS: Mr Teo with six RSAF pilots who are undergoing a course in San Diego that will prepare them to operate S-70B naval helicopters on Singapore Navy frigates. -- PHOTO: MINDEF
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WASHINGTON - THE United States should invest some 'energy and effort' in tending to its ties with South-east Asia, Singapore's Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean told top American policymakers here as he apprised them of major strategic changes in the region.
As he met senior Bush administration aides, Pentagon officials and think-tankers in the course of his five-day visit to the US, Mr Teo emphasised that as the strategic landscape evolved, the US needed to consider 'creative' ways of expanding its long-standing ties with the region.
'We wanted to brief our friends from the US about regional security developments. In particular, new things in the security environment like the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting,' the minister said in an interview with The Straits Times and other Singapore media here on Tuesday.
'Understandably, the focus of the US has been on Iraq, Afghanistan, the wider Middle East. And, of course, they are very focused on what's happening in Northeast Asia as well.
'My message to them was that they should also place some energy and effort in South-east Asia. It is unlike Europe where there are established structures and we would like the US to be aware of the evolution taking place because we feel that the US is an important partner for South-east Asia.'
The minister outlined the 'profound' strategic shifts under way in a lecture at the Statesmen's Forum organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday.
'A complex web of interdependencies is forming within Asia, driven mainly by economic growth and trade,' he said.
Among the drivers of change is the fact that China has become the largest trading partner of many countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Australia.
China is also India's second-largest trading partner. In addition, China and India are channelling significant amounts of investment to other Asian countries.
'China and India will naturally seek to secure their interests, and their growing economic might allows them to progressively develop the military capabilities and diplomatic influence necessary to do so,' Mr Teo said.
Faced with this, Japan too feels the need to exert greater geo-political influence, he noted.
'There is now a window of opportunity to shape Asia's security architecture,' he said, describing the region's still evolving multi- layered security structure that includes the recently instituted Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting.
Mr Teo said US officials had been receptive to his message.
'They see the importance of South-east Asia and they also understood the message I carried to them,' he said, adding that he had briefed them on the new agreement on defence exchanges and security cooperation that Singapore signed with China earlier this month.
'I let them know China, India, Japan are seeking to engage South-east Asia more actively and I suggested to them that the US may also want to see what creative ways they can expand the already very strong relationships they have with the various countries in the region, and also as a collective with Asean.'
In his meetings with US officials including Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Mr Teo also reaffirmed the 'robust' bilateral defence ties and received an update on reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, to which Singapore has sent teams.
Mr Teo visited a Boeing plant in St Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, where he was briefed on the production progress of the F-15SG fighter aircraft for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and was given a walk-through of the F-15 production line.
On Thursday, he visited the Naval Station San Diego in California, where he met senior US navy commanders.
The minister also toured the facilities for six RSAF pilots who are undergoing a course that will prepare them to operate S-70B naval helicopters on Singapore Navy frigates.
Mr Teo left for Singapore yesterday.
bhagya@sph.com.sg
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