The BRICS Juggernaut

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>>> US adds muscle, seeks friends in South China Sea standoff


USA Today

Kirk Spitzer



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/%e2%80%8bus-adds-muscle-seeks-friends-in-south-china-sea-standoff/ar-BBlZCjN


Aug 22, 2015


South Korea and North Korea agreed Saturday to hold their first high-level talks in nearly a year at a border village to defuse mounting tensions that have pushed the rivals to the brink of a possible military confrontation. (The South Korean Unification Ministry via AP)

Rival Koreas restart talks, pull back from brink - for now


ABOARD USS FORT WORTH IN THE JAVA SEA – Cmdr. Chris Brown looked at the line of warships behind him and didn’t like what he saw.

An Indonesian ship, KRI John Lie, had crept too close in an attempt to spot an “enemy” submarine lurking nearby. But when Brown relayed directions for the John Lie to ease back, the ship cut speed too quickly and forced others in line to veer off in all directions.

“Well, that’s why we practice these things,” Brown said, assessing the ragged formation.

The drill was part of a recent four-day exercise in which American and Indonesian forces stormed beaches, boarded ships, hunted submarines and practiced the wide range of skills they’d need if called upon to fight together in wartime.

While no one mentioned China by name, the increasing number and complexity of joint exercises with friendly countries in the region forms a key part of the U.S. response to China’s growing military strength and assertiveness.

"(The) exercises help to build skills among Southeast Asian navies, and importantly build relationships between the U.S. and Southeast Asian countries. They help participating Southeast Asian navies exercise and prepare for real-world scenarios,” said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

So far this year, the U.S. has conducted joint exercises with naval forces in Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. All those countries have territory that borders the disputed South China Sea. Other joint exercises are planned later this year.

China has asserted ownership of nearly all of the South China Sea and is building at least seven artificial islands in the key waterway. Parts of the region are also claimed by five other countries, including three of this year’s training partners.

“These exercises allow the U.S. to show its flag and maintain access to the South China Sea, building capacity for regional partners. It sends a political signal to China, but more importantly, to the region as a whole,” said Tetsuo Kotani, senior fellow and maritime security specialist at the Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo.

U.S. officials say they do not take sides in territorial disputes. But they worry that China could use the new islands — at least one of which includes a military-grade runway and deepwater harbor — to assert control over air and sea navigation and have called on China to halt construction.

Not only are U.S. forces training with more countries in the region than in past years, but the exercises — most of which fall under a program known as Cooperation Afloat and Readiness Training, or CARAT — are more ambitious.

A CARAT exercise with Indonesia last year, for example, included just two warships and was limited largely to basic sailing skills. This year’s exercise included seven warships, along with reconnaissance planes, helicopters, patrol boats and hundreds of U.S. Marines.

“CARAT is becoming increasingly complex each year, and the U.S. Navy is bringing the latest and most advanced assets,” said Navy Lt. Lauryn Dempsey, a spokesperson for the CARAT program.

The U.S. military's new emphasis on Asia has been criticized as more rhetoric than reality. Although the Navy has announced plans to shift 60% of its ships and planes to the Asia-Pacific region, relatively few additional troops or equipment have been dispatched to the region since China began flexing its muscles in 2010.

Nonetheless, the U.S. has been quietly modernizing and building up its forces in the region. The USS Fort Worth, for example, is among the first of a new class of fast, high-tech warship designed to operate in shallow waters like those in the South China Sea. It began a 16-month deployment to Singapore in December. The U.S. plans to have at least four of the new Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) operating from Singapore by 2018.

The U.S. 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, Japan, is swapping out many of its most powerful warships for brand-new or modernized versions, and adding new ships and planes, as well. Early next month, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, commissioned in 1992, will be replaced by the USS Ronald Reagan, a newer model whose engines and other systems were recently upgraded.

The fleet also has swapped two amphibious assault ships, a cruiser, two destroyers and two minesweepers with new or modernized vessels of the same type. The new cruiser and destroyers are equipped with the latest ballistic missile defense systems, and two new missile defense destroyers will be added to the fleet by the end of 2017.

The Navy also has begun exchanging older P-3C patrol planes for state-of-the-art P-8s, which can cruise the length of the South China Sea from bases in Okinawa.

“Having more LCS’s out here, having more and more of the most capable weapons systems and platforms in 7th Fleet — that demonstrates that we are committed” in the region, said Navy Capt. H.B. Le, who commanded U.S. forces in the Indonesia exercise.

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