Tin Tình báo- Tin về tình hình quân sự ASEAN (P1)

US tries to strengthen military ties with Vietnam
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
(Yahoo! News - Reuters) The United States, hoping to strengthen military ties with its old adversary Vietnam, will send a senior Pentagon official to the country on Tuesday for high-level talks.
Assistant Defense Secretary Peter Rodman, who oversees international security affairs, is to visit Hanoi and return to Washington on Thursday, defense officials said.
"We''re talking about an evolution of military relations," one senior official said.
The trip comes ahead of a planned June 21 meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Bush in Washington. Khai will be the most high-ranking Vietnamese to visit the United States since the Vietnam War.
The two countries mark the 10th anniversary of their normalization of relations in July.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Robert Zoellick was in Vietnam last month and urged the government to press on with economic reforms if it wanted to compete against neighboring China and become a part of the world economy.
Defense analysts have said an improved relationship with the United States may offer Vietnam a strategic counterbalance to China''s growing influence in the region.
But U.S. officials insist their moves to build closer military ties with Vietnam are not aimed at countering Bejing.
"The Vietnamese have been cautious about this (new military relationship) and we''re not pushing them," said the senior U.S. official.
"We''re going to let it evolve. It''s a long-term program. We''re ready to explore it if they are," he added.
Former Defense Secretary William Cohen visited Vietnam in 2000, and retired Admiral Thomas Fargo, then chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, visited in February 2004.
The Vietnamese defense minister came to Washington in November 2003 and U.S. ships have visited Vietnamese ports, but defense relations have not progressed much beyond that.
U.S. officials are hesitant to lay out an agenda, preferring to know first what Hanoi wants.
But one early possibility is bringing Vietnam into the IMET (International Military Education and Training) program, which U.S. defense leaders believe is one of the most effective ways to build relationships with foreign militaries.
Under the program, foreign military officers are chosen to attend U.S. military schools and institutes, learning about America''s military, its doctrine and values.
Another possible area of cooperation is the U.S.-led proliferation security initiative, a voluntary agreement under which states promise to interdict shipments related to weapons of mass destruction.
The senior official said there are no plans to ask Vietnam to let America establish permanent bases in the country.
Analysts have speculated that the United States might be interested in a future arrangement in which it would be able to use Vietnam''s Cam Ranh Bay facilities. During the Vietnam War, Cam Ranh, in southeast Vietnam, was the site of a large American military installation boasting a deep-water port.
The United States has become Vietnam''s biggest trading partner.
"Vietnam has all kinds of opportunities for influence in the region," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a security conference in Singapore last week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/international/asia/04rumsfeld.html
Rumsfeld Issues a Sharp Rebuke to China on Arms
By THOM SHANKER
SINGAPORE, Saturday, June 4 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an unusually blunt public critique of China, said Saturday that Beijing''s military spending threatened the delicate security balance in Asia and called for an emphasis instead on political freedom and open markets.
In a keynote address at an Asian security conference here, Mr. Rumsfeld argued that China''s investment in missiles and up-to-date military technology posed a risk not only to Taiwan and to American interests, but also to nations across Asia that view themselves as China''s trading partners, not rivals.
He said no "candid discussion of China" could neglect to address these military concerns directly, and criticized China for not admitting the full extent of what he described as its worrisome military expansion.
"Since no nation threatens China, one wonders: why this growing investment?" Mr. Rumsfeld asked.
His remarks come as Washington''s stance regarding Beijing appears to be growing more critical. The United States has accused China of manipulating the value of its currency, for example, in order to increase exports, and of exerting heavy-handed pressure on Taiwan.
A joint warning from the American and Japanese defense and foreign ministers has rankled Chinese leaders, as has the Bush administration''s insistence that Europe must not ease curbs on arms sales to China.
The administration has also been increasingly disappointed by China''s apparent reluctance to press North Korea to resume talks on its nuclear weapons programs, as Mr. Rumsfeld again urged China to do.
Perhaps because of his emphasis on military developments, as well as trade and democracy, Mr. Rumsfeld''s remarks, while measured, were more critical in tone than those heard in recent months from other administration officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited China in March. Before the election last year, she and her predecessor, Colin L. Powell, both said relations were better than they had been in years.
Mr. Rumsfeld''s comments on China also stood in contrast to those on another power in Asia: India. On the flight to Singapore, he said ties with India would strengthen while those with China could fray if Beijing did not open up society more.
Mr. Rumsfeld previewed findings of the Pentagon''s annual report to Congress on the Chinese military, saying: "China''s defense expen***ures are much higher than Chinese officials have publicly admitted. It is estimated that China''s is the third-largest military budget in the world, and now the largest in Asia."
Warnings about China''s military modernization have been issued before, but Mr. Rumsfeld''s remarks were notable because they came at an Asian security conference attended by defense ministers and military specialists from across Asia and the Pacific Rim.
"The world would welcome a China committed to peaceful solutions and whose industrious and well-educated people contribute to international peace and prosperity," Mr. Rumsfeld said. But that requires China to match its economic liberalizations with domestic political freedoms, he said, which in turn would bring clear benefits to Beijing because "China would appear more as a friend and a welcome partner."
"China has fundamental decisions to make about its goals and its future," he said. "Ultimately, China will need to embrace some form of open, representative government if it is to fully achieve the benefits to which its people aspire."
That echoed the Bush administration''s broad theme of encouraging democracy around the world, a message that Mr. Bush himself had carried to China when he visited there in February 2002, in a speech broadcast on state television.
Mr. Rumsfeld, for his part, has long taken a tough stance on China.
He ordered American military relations with China to be frozen shortly after he became defense secretary in 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet shadowing an American Navy surveillance aircraft in international airspace collided with the plane, forcing it to land on Chinese territory. The crew members were held as virtual hostages for 11 days.
But the American Navy''s port calls have slowly resumed over recent months, and Mr. Rumsfeld now says he hopes to pay an official visit to China before the end of the year.
In recent weeks, American officials have compiled reports detailing how China has carefully analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the United States military to focus its growing spending on weapons systems that could exploit perceived American weaknesses in case the United States ever responds to fighting in Taiwan.
These military and intelligence officials say China has purchased or built enough amphibious assault ships, submarines, fighter jets and short-range missiles that pose an immediate threat to Taiwan and to any American force that might come to Taiwan''s aid.
Asked about the speech before Mr. Rumsfeld delivered it, Scott McClellan, press secretary for President Bush, declined to discuss any change in tone in the way that the administration is talking about China. Referring to Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. McClellan added: "He speaks for the administration as secretary of defense. I haven''t seen his remarks."
How to assess the Chinese military buildup has been the source of some debate within the administration. Mr. Rumsfeld''s speech here, to a forum held by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, was circulated among senior administration officials, including Ms. Rice, before delivery, one Pentagon official said.
The Pentagon''s report to Congress on China is two months late, and one administration official said drafts of the document have been written, circulated and re-written as officials try to strike the right balance between warnings to Beijing and praise of its help on North Korea and its openness to investment.
In a clear indication of the complicated nature of the relationship, Mr. Rumsfeld stressed the critically important role that China plays, along with the United States and three other nations, in a six-party negotiation aimed at ending North Korea''s nuclear program. Those talks have been stalled for a year.
"One nation that can make a notable contribution in persuading North Korea to return to the six-party talks is China," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
He was also harshly critical of North Korea, which he labeled an impoverished, Stalinist regime, but he did not offer new policy pronouncements. Before his arrival here, Mr. Rumsfeld did note that the Bush administration''s policy toward North Korea was under review.
"Pyongyang''s nuclear ambitions threaten the security and stability of the region, and indeed the world," he said. "President Bush and the other four leaders have urged the regime to return to the six-party talks. The United States also urges the regime to embrace the openness and freedom that have helped so many of its neighbors thrive."
Mr. Rumsfeld described the American military in the region as poised to battle terrorism and the proliferation of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, but he also highlighted the emergency assistance given by American armed services after the tsunami in December killed more than 170,000 people across Southeast Asia.
David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington for this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/04/international/asia/04rumsfeld.html
Rumsfeld Issues a Sharp Rebuke to China on Arms
By THOM SHANKER
SINGAPORE, Saturday, June 4 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an unusually blunt public critique of China, said Saturday that Beijing''s military spending threatened the delicate security balance in Asia and called for an emphasis instead on political freedom and open markets.
In a keynote address at an Asian security conference here, Mr. Rumsfeld argued that China''s investment in missiles and up-to-date military technology posed a risk not only to Taiwan and to American interests, but also to nations across Asia that view themselves as China''s trading partners, not rivals.
He said no "candid discussion of China" could neglect to address these military concerns directly, and criticized China for not admitting the full extent of what he described as its worrisome military expansion.
"Since no nation threatens China, one wonders: why this growing investment?" Mr. Rumsfeld asked.
His remarks come as Washington''s stance regarding Beijing appears to be growing more critical. The United States has accused China of manipulating the value of its currency, for example, in order to increase exports, and of exerting heavy-handed pressure on Taiwan.
A joint warning from the American and Japanese defense and foreign ministers has rankled Chinese leaders, as has the Bush administration''s insistence that Europe must not ease curbs on arms sales to China.
The administration has also been increasingly disappointed by China''s apparent reluctance to press North Korea to resume talks on its nuclear weapons programs, as Mr. Rumsfeld again urged China to do.
Perhaps because of his emphasis on military developments, as well as trade and democracy, Mr. Rumsfeld''s remarks, while measured, were more critical in tone than those heard in recent months from other administration officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited China in March. Before the election last year, she and her predecessor, Colin L. Powell, both said relations were better than they had been in years.
Mr. Rumsfeld''s comments on China also stood in contrast to those on another power in Asia: India. On the flight to Singapore, he said ties with India would strengthen while those with China could fray if Beijing did not open up society more.
Mr. Rumsfeld previewed findings of the Pentagon''s annual report to Congress on the Chinese military, saying: "China''s defense expen***ures are much higher than Chinese officials have publicly admitted. It is estimated that China''s is the third-largest military budget in the world, and now the largest in Asia."
Warnings about China''s military modernization have been issued before, but Mr. Rumsfeld''s remarks were notable because they came at an Asian security conference attended by defense ministers and military specialists from across Asia and the Pacific Rim.
"The world would welcome a China committed to peaceful solutions and whose industrious and well-educated people contribute to international peace and prosperity," Mr. Rumsfeld said. But that requires China to match its economic liberalizations with domestic political freedoms, he said, which in turn would bring clear benefits to Beijing because "China would appear more as a friend and a welcome partner."
"China has fundamental decisions to make about its goals and its future," he said. "Ultimately, China will need to embrace some form of open, representative government if it is to fully achieve the benefits to which its people aspire."
That echoed the Bush administration''s broad theme of encouraging democracy around the world, a message that Mr. Bush himself had carried to China when he visited there in February 2002, in a speech broadcast on state television.
Mr. Rumsfeld, for his part, has long taken a tough stance on China.
He ordered American military relations with China to be frozen shortly after he became defense secretary in 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet shadowing an American Navy surveillance aircraft in international airspace collided with the plane, forcing it to land on Chinese territory. The crew members were held as virtual hostages for 11 days.
But the American Navy''s port calls have slowly resumed over recent months, and Mr. Rumsfeld now says he hopes to pay an official visit to China before the end of the year.
In recent weeks, American officials have compiled reports detailing how China has carefully analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the United States military to focus its growing spending on weapons systems that could exploit perceived American weaknesses in case the United States ever responds to fighting in Taiwan.
These military and intelligence officials say China has purchased or built enough amphibious assault ships, submarines, fighter jets and short-range missiles that pose an immediate threat to Taiwan and to any American force that might come to Taiwan''s aid.
Asked about the speech before Mr. Rumsfeld delivered it, Scott McClellan, press secretary for President Bush, declined to discuss any change in tone in the way that the administration is talking about China. Referring to Mr. Rumsfeld, Mr. McClellan added: "He speaks for the administration as secretary of defense. I haven''t seen his remarks."
How to assess the Chinese military buildup has been the source of some debate within the administration. Mr. Rumsfeld''s speech here, to a forum held by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, was circulated among senior administration officials, including Ms. Rice, before delivery, one Pentagon official said.
The Pentagon''s report to Congress on China is two months late, and one administration official said drafts of the document have been written, circulated and re-written as officials try to strike the right balance between warnings to Beijing and praise of its help on North Korea and its openness to investment.
In a clear indication of the complicated nature of the relationship, Mr. Rumsfeld stressed the critically important role that China plays, along with the United States and three other nations, in a six-party negotiation aimed at ending North Korea''s nuclear program. Those talks have been stalled for a year.
"One nation that can make a notable contribution in persuading North Korea to return to the six-party talks is China," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
He was also harshly critical of North Korea, which he labeled an impoverished, Stalinist regime, but he did not offer new policy pronouncements. Before his arrival here, Mr. Rumsfeld did note that the Bush administration''s policy toward North Korea was under review.
"Pyongyang''s nuclear ambitions threaten the security and stability of the region, and indeed the world," he said. "President Bush and the other four leaders have urged the regime to return to the six-party talks. The United States also urges the regime to embrace the openness and freedom that have helped so many of its neighbors thrive."
Mr. Rumsfeld described the American military in the region as poised to battle terrorism and the proliferation of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, but he also highlighted the emergency assistance given by American armed services after the tsunami in December killed more than 170,000 people across Southeast Asia.
David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington for this article.

Wednesday June 8 2005 00:00 IST
NEW DELHI: Taking ahead its south-east Asia policy, the Indian Navy is all set to reach more than 150 tonnes of critical spares to Vietnam on June 9 for its Petya and OSA-II class Russian-made missile boats.
Shortly after Admiral Arun Prakash''s fruitful visit to the region, which included an agreement with Thailand on monitoring common waters, the Navy will send its amphibious vessel INS Magar with 900 boxes of crucial spares that the Vietnamese Navy desperately needs.
An understanding on this was struck when the Vietnamese Defence Minister visited New Delhi in March. ?oThe spares would be of immense value to the Vietnamese Navy that operates a number of Russian-built Petya and OSA-II class missile boats,? a Navy spokesperson said.
?oVietnam is an important part of extended maritime neighbourhood and the Indo-Vietnam friendly bilateral relations have gone from strength to strength in recent years.?
Vietnam, which shares borders with Cambodia, Laos and China, has a coast all along the South China sea, across from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Philippines. The South China Sea area is a region the Indian Navy has set its sights on for comprehensive power projection.
With warming relations between India and China and the possibility of Sino-Indian joint Naval exercises this year in the Arabian Sea the Navy is keen to get an ?oequal sharê? of recognition in the area for progressive deep water capabilities, far from Indian shores.
In fact, the South-East is a stepping stone for a comprehensively larger event horizon of influence across the Indian Ocean region, for which the Navy has already consolidated ties with Seychelles (to which the Navy presented a coastal patrol vessel earlier this year), Mauritius and Maldives. The Navy had presented a coastal patrol vessel to Seychelles earlier this year.
Eastern Naval Commander Vice-Admiral O.P. Bansal will formally hand over the spares to the Vietnamese Navy chief between June 9 and 13 at Ho Chi Minh City, the country''s southern metropolis near the Cambodian border.
ngu"n : newindpres.com

Wednesday June 8 2005 00:00 IST
NEW DELHI: Taking ahead its south-east Asia policy, the Indian Navy is all set to reach more than 150 tonnes of critical spares to Vietnam on June 9 for its Petya and OSA-II class Russian-made missile boats.
Shortly after Admiral Arun Prakash''s fruitful visit to the region, which included an agreement with Thailand on monitoring common waters, the Navy will send its amphibious vessel INS Magar with 900 boxes of crucial spares that the Vietnamese Navy desperately needs.
An understanding on this was struck when the Vietnamese Defence Minister visited New Delhi in March. ?oThe spares would be of immense value to the Vietnamese Navy that operates a number of Russian-built Petya and OSA-II class missile boats,? a Navy spokesperson said.
?oVietnam is an important part of extended maritime neighbourhood and the Indo-Vietnam friendly bilateral relations have gone from strength to strength in recent years.?
Vietnam, which shares borders with Cambodia, Laos and China, has a coast all along the South China sea, across from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Philippines. The South China Sea area is a region the Indian Navy has set its sights on for comprehensive power projection.
With warming relations between India and China and the possibility of Sino-Indian joint Naval exercises this year in the Arabian Sea the Navy is keen to get an ?oequal sharê? of recognition in the area for progressive deep water capabilities, far from Indian shores.
In fact, the South-East is a stepping stone for a comprehensively larger event horizon of influence across the Indian Ocean region, for which the Navy has already consolidated ties with Seychelles (to which the Navy presented a coastal patrol vessel earlier this year), Mauritius and Maldives. The Navy had presented a coastal patrol vessel to Seychelles earlier this year.
Eastern Naval Commander Vice-Admiral O.P. Bansal will formally hand over the spares to the Vietnamese Navy chief between June 9 and 13 at Ho Chi Minh City, the country''s southern metropolis near the Cambodian border.
ngu"n : newindpres.com

Theo các nguồn tin quốc tế thì luật cho phép tư nhân và đầu tư nước ngoài đầu tư vào ngành công nghiệp quốc phòng của TQ sắp có hiệu lực,đây là một trong những nỗ lực của TQ nhằm đẩy nhanh việc hiện đại hoá quân đội.Sắp tới các doanh nghiệp tư tại TQ liên quan đến các ngành vật liệu công nghệ mới,CNTT... sẽ tham gia đầu tư vào quốc phòng.TQ dự định sẽ cấp 300 giấy phép đầu tiên trong lĩnh vực này(theo RFI).

Theo các nguồn tin quốc tế thì luật cho phép tư nhân và đầu tư nước ngoài đầu tư vào ngành công nghiệp quốc phòng của TQ sắp có hiệu lực,đây là một trong những nỗ lực của TQ nhằm đẩy nhanh việc hiện đại hoá quân đội.Sắp tới các doanh nghiệp tư tại TQ liên quan đến các ngành vật liệu công nghệ mới,CNTT... sẽ tham gia đầu tư vào quốc phòng.TQ dự định sẽ cấp 300 giấy phép đầu tiên trong lĩnh vực này(theo RFI).

---------------------------------

Đài Loan thử tên lửa hành trình đầu tiên


Đài Loan đang tăng cường khả năng phòng thủ tên lửa.
Ngày 5/6, Tờ China Times đưa tin Đài Loan vừa bắn thử thành công tên lửa hành trình đầu tiên của mình, loại tên lửa có tầm bay 1.000 km và có thể được sử dụng để tấn công các căn cứu quân sự ở Đông Nam Trung Quốc.
Tên lửa hành trình Hsiung Feng, do Viện Khoa học và Công nghệ Chungshan phát triển. "Đây là lần đầu tiên Đài Loan đưa "vũ khí chiến lược" vào sử dụng. Tác động quân sự và chính trị có ảnh hưởng lớn", tờ báo cho biết.

Theo tờ báo, người đứng đầu lực lượng phòng thủ của Đài Loan Lee Jye đã chứng kiến vụ bắn thử tên lửa từ căn cứ quân sự Chiupeng ở phía Nam hạt Pingtung. Tên lửa đã bay 500km trước khi lao trúng mục tiêu. Tờ báo không nói rõ thời gian của vụ thử nhưng có tin đồn cho rằng vụ thử diễn ra vào tháng 3.

Tên lửa sẽ được sản xuất thí điểm vào cuối năm nay hay đầu năm sau. Tờ Japan Today cho biết Đài Loan đang tăng cường khả năng phòng thủ tên lửa để đối chọi với đe doạ quân sự từ Trung Quốc. Tháng trước, chính quyền Đài Loan thông qua hợp đồng mua vũ khí với Mỹ trị giá gần 15,5 tỷ USD. Hợp đồng kéo dài 15 năm tính từ năm 2005 gồm 8 tàu ngầm, một hệ thống chống tên lửa Patriot được cải tiến và một phi đội máy bay chống tàu ngầm