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SINGAPORE : Bilateral ties between the militaries of the United States and China, the future of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), and the sinking of a South Korean corvette that killed 46 sailors were some of the key issues discussed on the second day of the Asia Pacific Security Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday.
A day after South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak declared that his country had referred the March 26 sinking of its corvettes by North Korea to the United Nations Security Council, more voices of concerns were heard over North Korea's actions.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said: "We will conduct combined military exercises with South Korea and support action in the United Nations Security Council. At the same time, we are assessing additional options to hold North Korea accountable.
"The nations of this region share the task of addressing these dangerous provocations. Inaction would amount to an abdication of our collective responsibility to protect the peace and reinforce stability in Asia.
"North Korea must cease its belligerent behaviour and demonstrate clearly and decisively that it wants to pursue a different path."
For Dr Gates, it is the fourth time he is addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue. His message to the Asia Pacific region was clear - the United States is a Pacific nation and will remain a power in the Pacific.
He said: "Broadly speaking, it is important to note that we should not measure US presence, and the associated impact and influence, solely in terms of conventional military bases. Rather, we must think more about US 'presence' in the broader sense of what we achieve in the region - the connections made, the results accomplished.
"This includes everything from medical teams, to civil engineering personnel, to partner militaries that are more professional and capable of contributing to international efforts to deal with the most vexing security challenges we face.
"These kinds of activities reflect a priority of the overall United States security strategy - to prevent and deter conflict by better employing and integrating all elements of our national power and international cooperation.
"As we have learned, military capabilities are critically important but, by themselves, do not deter conflict; sustained diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties also play vital roles in maintaining stability and improving relationships."
Another area of regret expressed by Dr Gates is the lack of progress in US-China military ties in recent months, although he stressed in his wide-ranging speech that the US does not consider Beijing an enemy.
He said: "Chinese officials have broken off interactions between our militaries, citing US arms sales to Taiwan as the rationale. For a variety of reasons, this makes little sense.
"First, US arms sales to Taiwan are nothing new. They have been a reality for decades and spanned multiple American administrations. Second, the United States has for years demonstrated in a very public way that we do not support independence for Taiwan. Nothing - I repeat, nothing - has changed in that stance."
Dr Gates added that China's accelerating military build-up was largely focused on Taiwan.
Disagreeing, the leader of China's delegation emphasised that his country's national defence forces are responsible for guaranteeing peaceful development, and are not directed at Taiwan.
Also contributing to the security and stability of this region is the FPDA. The FPDA - which is made up of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia - will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year.
Ministers from the FPDA countries said it has been a successful model to build on.
John Faulkner, Australian Defence Minister, said: "It has been critically important in terms of how defence forces in the five nations and power can work together, inter-operability and commonality on issues such as humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and in terms of the role in East Timor."
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said: "FPDA has also been a remarkably flexible organisation because of its consultative nature. It has been able to adapt well to the times.
"And each of the five countries has been prepared to put in efforts and resources into the FPDA; the level of exercises and interactions has increased over the last four decades to a very high and useful level now."
Mr Teo added that Vietnam's Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh also gave a briefing on the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus to enhance the region's role last month in Hanoi.
The meeting had agreed on the ADMM+8 format, welcoming eight countries - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States of America - to join the inaugural ADMM-Plus meeting, which will be held this October in Vietnam.
Mr Teo said: "It is also gratifying to know that several of the ministers - both in the plenary sessions today, as well as at lunch - welcomed the ADMM+8 as a suitable architecture to help to develop security in our region."
Discussions on the final day of the Dialogue on Sunday will focus on humanitarian and disaster relief programmes, as well as the battle against counter-insurgency. - CNA/ms
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