US PRESENCE TO ADD TO REGIONAL STABILITY

We hope that their (the United States ) presence here will continue to add stability to the region It will benefit Singapore if they continue what their role has been, and indeed the region, Asia and the rest of the world, said Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen after hosting a private ministerial luncheon for 21 ministers and their representatives in conjunction with the Shangri-La Dialogue on 2 Jun.

Dr Ng was referring to Mr Panetta s highly-anticipated address earlier in the day, in which the latter defined in detail the US efforts in rebalancing itself towards the Asia-Pacific.

One way it was doing so, Mr Panetta said, was by taking existing alliances and partnerships in new directions, which included enhancing its defence relationship with Singapore.

He added that the US will increase military exercises and port visits in the Pacific and by 2020, adjust the deployment of its naval forces from a 50-50 split between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans to a 60-40 split. Mr Panetta was attending the Dialogue for the first time.

During the luncheon, the ministers discussed several key security challenges, which included the nuclear security situation in the Korean Peninsula, maritime security challenges in the Indian Ocean and the ongoing South China Sea territorial disputes.

The ministers also welcomed the progress made in the democratisation process in Myanmar. Dr Ng, in reference to Myanmar Defence Minister Lieutenant-General (LG) Hla Min s comments at an earlier plenary session, said: (LG Hla Min) spoke about the overriding direction and concern of the Myanmese society to progress we welcome that, the ASEAN community should also support that. We also spoke about how the lifting of sanctions will help Myanmar along those paths, and certainly, ASEAN supports that call.

In addition, the ministers noted the importance and usefulness of regional security platforms such as the ASEAN Defence Minister s Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM-Plus in enhancing practical cooperation among the defence establishments to address security challenges of mutual interest.

In a joint statement issued by Mr Panetta and Dr Ng after a bilateral meeting, Mr Panetta reaffirmed the US commitment to continuing enhancing its engagement of regional countries, and working closely with partners like Singapore in strengthening regional peace and stability.

In a sign of deepening bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries, Dr Ng conveyed Singapore s in-principle agreement to the US request to deploy up to four Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) to Singapore on a rotational basis.

Mr Panetta reaffirmed that the LCS deployment will strengthen US engagement in the region through regional port calls as well as engagement of regional navies through exercises.

Our ability to operate with Singaporean forces and others in the region will grow substantially in the coming years when we implement the forward deployment of the Littoral Combat Ships to Singapore, he said.

Details of the deployment are still being finalised, but the first LCS will be in Singapore from the second quarter of 2013.

It was noted that both countries were also working towards increasing the complexity of existing bilateral exercises to enhance interoperability between the two countries military services. For example, Exercise Commando Sling, currently a bilateral Air Force exercise may be incorporated with Navy elements.

Enhancing joint training opportunities was also discussed, such as having the US Marines and the Singapore Armed Forces train together in Singapore s Murai Urban Training Facility from 2013.

Dr Ng described the Dialogue as being an extraordinarily rich meeting because of the relevance and currency of the issues discussed by the delegates. He added: We have better appreciation of the challenges and from that, possible solutions and ways to solve and mitigate the problems that we face.

Throughout the second day of the three-day Dialogue, Dr Ng also met ministers and senior officials from France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.