Post-Sept. 11 Military Deals Result in China Encircled

by Rahul Bedi

Through a complex web of alliances, ostensibly to fight the scourge of terrorism, backed by economic sops and clever strategic agreements, the world's lone superpower has manoeuvred not only to exploit the Central Asian republics' vast energy resources, but also to encircle China, its potential economic and military rival.

A year after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. military presence is palpable not only in Kabul, Islamabad and Central Asian nations like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Krgyzstan -- which are vital to U.S. oil conglomerates anxious to begin laying pipelines to the Arabian sea -- but in varying degrees in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and to a lesser extent in Burma.

Further east, the U.S. military is combating groups said to have al Qaeda ties in the Philippines, while bolstering its presence in Indonesia and the South China Sea.

And, while seizing the opportunity to secure its long-term energy and security interests, the United States has changed all rules of engagement. In its military alliances, especially in Central Asia, it has either downplayed or ignored human rights considerations among its newfound allies -- and in some cases even rewarded them.

Desperate for an alternative to the turbulent Arab states for its petroleum needs, the United States has emerged as the leading foreign investor in Central Asia's energy sector, declaring that it wants to promote political and economic stability there. Loosely translated, this means it wants peace to ensure profit.

Washington's opening gambit immediately after Sep. 11 was, predictably, in Central Asia, whose strategic location was vital in executing its campaign against the Taliban. The Central Asian nations, aware of their geographical importance, also sensed a golden economic opportunity in the offing.

Subsequently, a continuing partnership of convenience was cemented.

And though U.S. officials are at pains to stress that American presence in the Central Asian states is not an extended one, Washington's support for their authoritarian regimes, economic and military largesse and construction of near-permanent bases, seem to suggest otherwise.

These latent intentions have been further disproved by assurances of more military aid to the region and money to acquire U.S. weaponry, with a view to bolstering America's military industrial complex that was rapidly shrinking before the September attacks.

"The moment (Sept. 11) was greedily seized upon by Washington to re-enter, without any opposition, its old Cold War stamping ground in Asia for maximizing profit," a Western diplomat in Delhi said.

While Islamabad and Kabul remain crucial to U.S. interests, Washington and Delhi, despite vociferous denials by both, are subtly forging long-term military and security alliances aimed at containing China.

Such a partnership suits India, which has termed China its "number one enemy", despite the recent flurry of diplomatic overtures to Beijing for peace and tranquility.

The December meeting of the Defense Policy Group (DPG) and the subsequent signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) by India's minister George Fernandes in Washington ensured the sharing of military intelligence between India and the United States.

In April, India bought eight U.S.-built Firefinder weapon-locating radar for $146 million in the first major American defence contract in over four decades, while Washington cleared the sale of 20 other military items to Delhi.

In trying to "surround" China, the United States has a willing ally in India's military.

A recent Indian Navy analysis pinpoints China's nuclear capability and modernized navy as its primary concern in the 21st century. In the report "Strategic Review-The Maritime Dimension," the navy declared that the power vacuum in the Indian Ocean region in the 21st century can only be filled by India, China or Japan either by "complete pre-eminence or by a mutual stand-off".

In either case, the situation entails serious security implications for India, an insecurity that Washington is now fully exploiting.

China is rapidly modernizing its navy with a view to increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean by 2020. The People's Liberation Army Navy has the second largest navy in Asia, after Russia.

In keeping with China's revised doctrine of waging "modern warfare under high technology conditions on the high seas," it is focusing on developing a "bluewater" naval capability centered around at least two aircraft carrier battle groups for the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. China has also declared the navy its senior service.

India claims that as part of Beijing's "encirclement policy," China is establishing a Signals Intelligence facility on the Great Cocos island, 40 nautical miles from the Andaman Islands, to monitor shipping in the Malacca Straits and frequent missile tests off Orissa state's east coast.

Meantime, the Bush administration has asked Congress for $20 million in unspecified, non-lethal military aid for Nepal, including body armor, night vision devices and varied equipment for the grossly under-equipped, near medieval Royal Nepal Army that is desperately battling Maoist rebels.

Working in tandem with the British are around 40 U.S. "low profile advisors," a euphemism for security specialists, who were recently posted in Kathmandu.

These undercover advisors are reportedly helping the RNA and the near-defunct National Intelligence Directorate modernize to ably counter the six-year-old Maoist insurgency. The U.S. ambassador to Kathmandu, Michael Mallinowski was earlier posted in Peshawar, Pakistan.

"From the United States, we need material assistance such as weapons, equipment and training to fight the terrorists and financial assistance to fight budgetary constraints," Prakash Sharan Mahat, advisor to caretaker prime minister Sher Nahadur Deuba said recently.

Finally, in Sri Lanka, under Operation Balanced Style US Sea Air Land Forces (SEALS), specialists have begun training the country's army and navy while police teams are being sent to the United States for anti-terrorism courses.

Military cooperation has also been extended to the island nation's air force, which operates a wide range of Israeli-made combat aircraft.

With an eye on eastern Sri Lanka's Trincomalee port as a staging point for its assets based at Diego Garcia, Washington has also pressured the Tamil Tigers to persevere in its peace offensive with the Sri Lankan government.

Trincomalee is one of the world's biggest natural deep-sea harbors that "controls" the Indian Ocean. Through a combination of diplomacy, bullying and astute bargaining, a paranoid India had, over several years, somehow managed to prevent outside powers from having access to Trincomalee.

One of the key clauses of the 1987 accord that led to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) arriving in Sri Lanka that year declared that Trincomalee would not be controlled by any foreign power "inimical" to India.

But with the United States now India's most coveted ally, Delhi is unlikely to object to Washington neatly tying up all the strategic bonds to fully dominate the Asian region.