http://www.boston.com/dailynews/243/world/Planned_shift_in_U_S_Army_stra:.shtml

Planned shift in U.S. Army strategy regarding Asia welcomed by some

By Thomas Wagner, Associated Press, 8/31/2001 05:49

TOKYO (AP) A U.S. Army plan to move some combat weaponry and equipment from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region was welcomed on Friday by officials and analysts in Hawaii, Guam and Taiwan.

Japan and South Korea, which already have tens of thousands of U.S. troops, did not immediately react. But they are unlikely to oppose it since they have long anticipated such shifts in America's global military strategy.

On Thursday, U.S. Army Secretary Thomas White, the Army's top official, said it intends to move to Asia an unspecified amount of combat weaponry and equipment that is stored in Germany and Italy for use by troop reinforcements in the event of war. White's aides said some of it may be stored on Diego Garcia, an island located in the Chagos archipelago, a British territory in the Indian Ocean that is 1,000 miles southwest of India.

White, who said no troops would be moved, called it another shift reflecting the Bush administration's realization that in the aftermath of the Cold War it makes sense to increase the focus on potential threats in Asia and the Pacific.

Those hot spots include North Korea, the heavily armed, hard-line communist state, and China, which has repeatedly threatened to attack Taiwan unless it becomes part of China.

White also said the U.S. Army may consider basing troops on Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific where the Air Force maintains a staging base for its aircraft. Guam is about 1,600 miles from Tokyo.

Park Seon-sup, a researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in Seoul, said the U.S. shift in its global military strategy has been expected since the danger of a war in Europe has diminished, while the chances of a conflict in Asia have risen.

As a result, Park said, South Korea may even be willing to accept some new U.S. Army equipment to bolster the preparedness of the 37,000 American troops that are guarding the South against possible attacks by North Korea.

But he said a large-scale deployment of more U.S. military equipment in South Korea could set back its efforts to improve its relations with the North. Park also said it could set off angry protests by South Korean citizens who already oppose the American bases.

In Japan, a major outpost for the U.S. military, government officials refused to comment on Friday about the U.S. Army's plans to move equipment to Diego Garcia.

They are unlikely to oppose such a plan, but that could quickly change if any U.S. Army equipment is ever moved from Europe to Okinawa, a small southern Japan island where most of the U.S. troops here are stationed. Okinawans, angered by crimes and crowding, have long called for troop reductions and any increase in U.S. weaponry would be controversial.

Although the U.S. Army presence on Okinawa is relatively small, it is home to the largest contingent of Marines outside the United States and the largest Air Force base in the region. There are about 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan, less than 2,000 of whom are in the Army.

In Taiwan, the reaction to White's comments was positive.

The Taiwanese generally welcome U.S. buildups in Asia that might help rein in China's growing military might. Although Taiwan and America do not have an official military alliance, U.S. troops would be the island's most likely defender if China ever acted on its long-standing threats to use force to unify the two sides, which split amid civil war in 1949.

On Friday, Yang Chih-heng, a military expert with the private Taiwan Research Institute, said Taiwan would welcome any U.S. move that would place the island under its shield of protection. By moving weapons and possibly troops based in Europe, the United States could deter further Chinese military expansion in the Pacific region without significantly increasing its defense expenditure, Yang said.

Hawaii and Guam also welcomed a move of U.S. Army equipment from Europe to the region.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, has long called for a greater security focus on Asia and the Pacific, noting such potential flashpoints as Indonesia, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, China and Taiwan, and the Korean Peninsula.

''The secretary's remarks are right on target,'' said Inouye, chairman of the defense subcommittee of the U.S. Appropriations Committee.

''When one looks at the trouble spots of this globe, you will find that there are more ... in the Asian sphere than the European,'' he said in an interview.

In Guam, John Ryan, spokesman for Gov. Carl Gutierrez, said a greater military presence there would help the island's struggling economy. U.S. military officials acknowledged last year that they may have cut back the military presence on Guam too fast in the mid-1990s, Ryan said.

Guam's residents are ''proud, patriotic Americans,'' he said. ''We will do our part to help the security interests of the United States.''

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2001