US cautions against using force in territorial dispute

Rabiatul Kamit
BRUNEI-MUARA


THE United States yesterday cautioned claimants in the South China Sea dispute against using strong-arm tactics as territorial tensions threaten to undermine maritime security in the region.

Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Vincent R Stewart said the US opposes the use of threat or force or coercion by any claimant to advance their own claims.

“Maritime security is an issue particularly relevant to the Asia-Pacific region and one that requires an international solution,” he said during the opening of the Eighth Asia-Pacific Intelligence Chiefs Conference here.

Warning claimants to steer away from strong-arm tactics, he asserted the US has “a national interest in freedom of navigation, maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law and unimpeded lawful commerce in the South China Sea”.

Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and China have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in natural resources.

The director also called on Asia-Pacific intelligence chiefs to seek a collective approach to neutralise the threat of “homegrown radicalisation to return of foreign fighters from Jihadi hotspots”.

“Terrorism threatens us all. When the foreign fighters who went to Syria return home, and they will, there’s potential for re-energising terrorist organisations leading to increased violence in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Lieutenant General Stewart urged them to explore ways to remove or mitigate the conditions that feed radicalism as well as to counter such “violent and extreme ideology”.

“Underlying all of these efforts is the need to collaborate to find innovative approaches for our intelligence practices and personnel. At the Defense Intelligence Agency, we are focused on building the analysts of the future to deal with a myriad of threats and challenges that we all face,” he said.

He noted they face threats from nation states as well as organisations that “look and act like nation states, but are destructive to the established order”.

“We face complex threats in both kinetic, nuclear arms states and non-kinetic cyberspace challenges. We face threats in a dynamic world in which information moves faster than most of us are capable of understanding what is going on in the world,” he added.

To help decision-makers make critical decisions, the director said they must focus on building their core skills, knowledge and leadership.

He said intelligence professionalisation is fundamental in ensuring organisations can effectively do their jobs to protect national and regional security, pointing out diversity in sharing lessons “offers opportunities to develop new ideas and compliment military capabilities”.

Meanwhile, Brunei’s intelligence director Captain Abdul Rahman Bakar said the scope of challenges is “getting bigger and wider, compounded by a variety of unknowns”.

He believed it is no longer sufficient to merely engage with immediate neighbours or regional grouping alone as the corresponding expectations and demands on intelligence have been growing.

“No matter how good or valuable any kind of information and its accompanying analysis may be, intelligence is deemed a failure and ineffective if it is not timely,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of intelligence networks, Captain Abdul Rahman noted the conference has paved the way for the building of “an informal yet efficient” information-sharing network made available to Asia-Pacific intelligence chiefs.

He said such linkages are necessary in providing a more accurate and timely insight into regional as well as global security to aid decision-makers in formulating strategies to address risks and threats.

The three-day conference opened at The Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday, bringing together military intelligence chiefs from 24 countries. It is the first time Brunei is co-hosting the conference with the US.


Sumber - The Brunei Times