'Growing China, India power can't be ignored'
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-08-05 08:50

The United States will remain the leading power for the foreseeable future but the rising influence of China and India can no longer be ignored, Singapore's defence minister said, AFP reported.

Japan is also playing a more active role in the global strategic arena, making the future of the Asia-Pacific region dependent on the moves by these three regional giants, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said Thursday.

"The military and political power of the US has been a pre-eminent factor for a long time and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future," Teo said in a speech to Asia-Pacific military officers at a seminar here.

"But China and India can no longer be ignored. They both have aspirations to be regional, if not global, powers. They are fast gaining economic clout and in the process they are reshaping the geopolitical contours of the region."

The stability of relations between and among China, Japan and India as well as their individual bilateral ties with the United States are crucial to the region's future, he said.

"With their sheer size and strategic weight, what these regional powers do will, like shifts in major tectonic plates, reshape the geopolitical contours of the region," Teo said.

"The complexion of the Asia-Pacific strategic environment will be coloured by how these three regional powers conduct themselves in relation to one another and to the US.

"The Sino-US, US-Japan, Sino-Japanese, Sino-Indian and US-India relationships make up the complex environment which will determine the region's future."

China, the world's most populous nation, now sees itself as a regional power, while India "has been casting its gaze beyond the subcontinent," Teo said. Japan, the world's second largest economy, is claiming a more active strategic role globally.

But the relationship between Washington and Beijing "is of the greatest significance" because of their strategic weights and the "warininess" with which both view each other, he said.

"It would be to the detriment of regional peace and stability if the US and China get locked into an adversarial relationship. This need not happen and countries in this region would certainly not want to see such a confrontation," Teo said.

Close

Heavy rains affect 200,000 people evacuated Twin panda cubs doing well Villages flooded in Anhui

Today's Top News     Top China News
Exchange rate range to adjust at proper time         Six-Party Talks to continue today         Hospitals overcharge patients for profits         China, US to jointly oppose UN expansion         Fuel rationing to cope with shortage         Typhoon approaches coastal provinces	Ordinary house buyers unhurt by revaluation       Investors relieved after CNOOC drops bid       India says closer US ties won't distance China       Country soaked in torrential downpour       Henan coal mine accident kills 24       Six-Party Talks approaches final stage