US pushes for bigger permanent military presence
The US is currently putting emphasis on expanding the presence of its troops in Southeast Asia and some other regions and strengthening its capability for rapid mobility and deployment from its present military bases, said Deputy Defense Sec. Paul Wolfowitz after the Asian Security Conference held in Singapore on May 31.
According to Wolfowitz, the US is now closely assessing and reorganizing the present disposition of its military forces, especially in Southeast Asia.
The US considers its military presence in the region wanting. The American troops in Mindanao now comprise the only overt US military presence in Southeast Asia. Its other forces are based in Northeast Asia (Japan and South Korea) and are all focused on North Korea. Ever since its two military bases were kicked out of the Philippines, the US has had to make do with maintaining warships in the Asia-Pacific seas as a security guarantee and a means of rapidly deploying its troops in the region.
The US plans to strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia by establishing a broad network of small tactical bases called "deployment bases" or "forward operating bases." It plans to set them up in the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. In particular, the US intends to base ground troops in the Philippines and naval troops in Vietnam. The US also has plans to reduce its 20,000-strong force in its military base in Okinawa, Japan and transfer them to a forward operating base to be set up in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the office of the Defense Minister of Australia has confirmed that the US has already forwarded its plan to expand and strengthen its military presence in their country. In particular, the US seeks to base warplanes and 5,000 Marines in Australia. At present, it already has a number of war planes and ground troops tucked into military bases in Australia.
This subject has previously been discussed extensively in "Rebuilding America's Defenses," a document that Richard Cheney (now US vice president), Donald Rumsfeld (now US defense secretary) and other key US officials ordered prepared in September 2000. It was recently published in the Sunday Herald in the US in the face of US plans to redisposition its military troops.
Strengthening the present naval presence in the Asia-Pacific or relying on the present military troops stationed in the region is no longer sufficient, according to this document. To achieve US military and political objectives, it says, it is now necessary to station rapidly mobile ground and air forces, particularly in Southeast Asia.
These forces will serve to supplement or support troops permanently stationed in Japan and Korea. The document likewise stipulates that it is also necessary to maintain no less than a brigade- or regiment-size force stationed in these tactical bases at any time in order to "effectively carry out traditional ground operations while maintaining the rapidly mobile capacity of these forces."
Military equipment will also be positioned in the deployment bases or forward operating bases to be set up.
Setting up these tactical bases need not start from scratch. According to the document, the US may use the host country's military bases, which need only be "improved." The US will have the host country shoulder the actual "improvement" and other small expenses in setting up the base. To further save on costs, the US will use the armed forces of the host country to maintain the bases. Any additional expense for this arrangement may be regarded as part of the "security assistance" to the host country. This way, the tactical bases could be immediately, easily and cheaply set up.
The document also stated that although these deployment bases will initially play a supportive role, they may be expanded and their roles made more encompassing, if necessary. Compared to permanent bases, these flexible types of bases are more acceptable especially to some of the US� so-called "skittish" allies.
In the Philippines, even if the US has not yet had the constitutional ban on foreign military bases and nuclear arms removed, these tactical bases can easily be set up through existing agreements like the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), Military Assistance Pact (MAP), Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Nonetheless, the US is pushing for the revision of the Philippine constitution to ease any possibility of setting up permanent military bases in the country in the future. This also paves the way for broader, more intense and more direct US military intervention in the country.
| 
