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I. United States1. ROK-DPRK Naval Incident The Associated Press ("2 N KOREA NAVY BOATS VIOLATE MARITIME BORDER WITH S KOREA," Seoul, 06/28/02) reported that the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that two DPRK patrol boats briefly crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea on Friday. The two naval vessels, which were directing DPRK fishing boats in the area, remained south of the NLL for 70 minutes before being chased back by ROK patrol boats. The statement said that it was the 10th such border violation. 2. Salvage of Mystery Ship The Associated Press ("BAD WEATHER HALTS SALVAGE OF SUSPECTED N KOREAN SPY SHIP," Tokyo, 06/28/02) reported that Japan Coast Guard spokesman Kenichi Sasaki said that bad weather on Friday forced the suspension of operations in the East China Sea to raise a sunken ship that Japan suspects is a DPRK spy boat. Rain and high waves early in the morning caused officials to cancel the day's scheduled operations, including sending two submersible salvage craft to remove debris from around the sunken boat. The salvage, expected to take a month and cost roughly 5.9 billion yen, is being carried out by a private company under protection from coast guard patrol boats. 3. Taiwan Submarine Purchase The Associated Press ("TAIWAN MILITARY IN WASHINGTON FOR TALKS ON SUBMARINE DEAL," Taipei, 06/28/02) reported that Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming confirmed Friday that a military delegation from Taiwan is in the US discussing a deal to buy eight diesel-electric submarines. Tang did not provide other details about the trip. He stated, "So far, this work has been going very smoothly." Taipei Times (Charles Snyder, "SUBMARINE SALE STICKING ON COST," Washington, 06/28/02) reported that US government sources said that the high up-front costs of designing diesel submarines that Taiwan wants to buy from the US have emerged as the chief stumbling block to the deal. The issue emerged as a Taiwan Ministry of National Defense (MND) team headed by Vice Admiral Wang Li-shen wound up two days of talks with the US Defense Department on the submarines and other US weapons sales to Taiwan. US sources said that a team of US officials will travel to Taipei next month for talks with Taiwanese officials on the submarines' funding. US officials said that the costs of evaluating the options for the submarine sales will run into many millions of US dollars. US law forbids the US government from paying for these preliminary costs, so Taiwan must agree to pay the entire cost for the sale to be finalized. One unnamed US official stated, "If they cannot pay for the program assessment, then they cannot pay for the submarines." The cost of the eight submarines could be as much as US$6 billion, making them the most expensive weapons system Taiwan has ever bought from the US. An unnamed US official stated, "The government is committed.... The president committed his prestige to deliver this to the Taiwan government. But that's going to take time." In addition to the submarines, the Taiwan mission also discussed the acquisition of Kidd-class destroyers, self- propelled howitzers, missile defense systems, data links and other weapons systems that the US has already agreed to sell to Taiwan. [Ed. Note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 28.] 4. PRC Weapons Development The Wall Street Journal (Charles Hutzler, "DEFICIENCIES OF CHINESE WEAPONS MAKERS UNDERLINED BY ARMS ACCORD WITH RUSSIA," Beijing, 06/28/02) reported that Western diplomats said that the PRC's decision to purchase eight Russian submarines highlights the PRC's difficulties in developing domestic military industries. The diplomats said that Russia agreed to equip the submarines with long-range Klub antiship missile systems and expedite delivery within five years. Defense experts said that the submarines would allow the PRC to mount a robust blockade of Taiwan, while the Klub missiles, with a range of 220 kilometers (136 miles), could be an added deterrent to intervention by the US. Alan Dupont, an Asian-Pacific security expert at Australian National University, stated, "This puts China in the position that they will never have to kowtow to an American naval task force as they did in 1996." James Mulvenon, a specialist on Chinese defense industries with Rand Corporation, said that the PRC's privatization of the defense industry has created "two different defense industries: One is vibrant and successful, one is moribund." Mulvenon said that the more competitive companies have retooled themselves toward commercial products, especially in information technology. To bolster this trend and ensure that the military benefits, a government program steers research funds into fields such as lasers, aeronautics, and information technology, which have both commercial and military applications, but it has been unable to coordinate research and development over different fields to develop large, complex weapons systems comparable to those fielded by the US, other Western countries and Russia. The PRC has thus become the world's biggest importer of weapons, buying US$1 billion a year from Russia alone, according to the Russian government. [Ed. Note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 28.] 5. Russian Nuclear Arsenal The Wall Street Journal (Jeanne Cummings, "G-8 CLEARS WAY FOR PROGRAM TO DESTROY RUSSIAN ARSENAL." Calgary, 06/28/02) and the Los Angeles Times (James Gerstenzang, "AID PROMISED FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY," Calgary, 06/28/02) reported that Russia agreed at the Group of Eight economic summit meeting on Thursday to allow more nations to help monitor the destruction of its leftover nuclear arsenal. The agreement cleared the way for approval of a US$20 billion program to provide Russia with financial help in destroying or securing nuclear, chemical and biological stockpiles. European leaders had resisted the US plan, but agreed after US President George W. Bush convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin in a private meeting to give the Europeans the same monitoring power and protections that the US had under a 1992 agreement. The other G-8 nations are now committed as a group to matching the US pledge of US$1 billion annually for 10 years, although the specific obligations have not been worked out. Some non-G-8 nations are also expected to participate. The agreement also ensures that money will be available to other former Soviet states that inherited material at the end of the Cold War. An unnamed senior US official said that the program would bring Europe and Japan in "a much more major way" into what has been largely a US effort. He said that some of the material would be destroyed and some converted into nuclear fuel, "But what we're trying to do in the first place is make sure that this material is under control, that it's not capable of being leaked out of Russian command and getting to terrorists or to rogue states." 6. US Troops in Philippines The Philippine Daily Inquirer ("US TROOPS TO STAY LONGER IN RP, SAYS US DEFENSE CHIEF," Washington, 06/28/02) reported that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday that US Special Forces are likely to continue training small units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines even after the end of the six-month Balikatan training exercise. He added, however, that the bulk of the US forces will pull out by July 31 when they are scheduled to wind up their counter-terrorism exercise with Filipino troops. Rumsfeld stated, "We very likely will continue -- not continue -- but have some arrangement with respect to operating with somewhat smaller levels." He added, "I mean, in training and exercising, you end up being around. And if that's a patrol, it's a patrol. And if it's not, it's not." [Ed. Note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 28.] 7. ASEAN Military Cooperation The Washington Times (David R. Sands, "ASEAN MEMBERS RULE OUT MILITARY COOPERATION, 6/28/02) reported that Rodolfo Severino Jr., Secretary- General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said Thursday that ASEAN has boosted counter-terrorism and intelligence links since the September 11 attacks, but has no plans to transform itself into a military alliance. Severino also rejected the idea that Southeast Asia was destined to become the "second front" in the US-led war on global terrorism. He stated, "The kind of Islam practiced in Southeast Asia is quite different from the stricter kind of Islam seen in the Middle East. Our two biggest Muslim members, Indonesia and Malaysia, have taken a strong stand against Islamic extremism, and were doing so long before September 11." He added, "I think this talk of ASEAN as a haven for terrorists is really out of place. People have become more conscious of our efforts against terrorism because our own countries have been making arrests." [Ed. Note: This article was included in the US Department of Defense's Early Bird news service for July 28.]
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