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China-Japan-Koreas
US and allies brace for weapons trafficking in high seas
2005-08-21
ABOARD RSS ENDURANCE, South China Sea - It was a scenario straight out of a Tom Clancy spy novel. The United States passed on intelligence to its allies that dangerous chemicals could be shipped from a Northeast Asian country to a port in the Arabian Gulf. Japan sent out information that some ships fitting the profile of the suspect vessels had been monitored heading for their destination via the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

After a tense 36-hour search spanning 600 nautical miles and aided by satellite technology, elite Singapore divers rappelled down a helicopter and stormed a merchant vessel singled out from thousands plying the route. Six speedboats soon pulled alongside and a multinational force including chemical and biological warfare experts and customs officers boarded the vessel, which was then escorted under heavy guard to Singapore.

The exercise, demonstrated to journalists and foreign military observers watching from aboard the RSS Endurance, a Singapore Navy landing ship-tank, showed how multinational forces would foil a terrorist attempt to smuggle nerve gas components from a “Northeast Asian” country to a port in the Middle East.
A quick review of my world atlas for "Northeast Asian" countries ... Russia ... China ...
Participants said holding the drills in Southeast Asia for the first time was important because the region has two of the world’s busiest shipping lanes — the Singapore and Malacca Straits.
... Japan ... South Korea ...

By coincidence, the drill took place after six-nation talks to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme ended in Beijing last month with no solution in sight. The Stalinist regime in Pyongyang has long been seen as a potential rogue weapons supplier to shadowy regimes and organisations.
oh ... North Korea!
The exercise in the South China Sea about 60 kilometres (100 miles) off Singapore was part of the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) aimed at preventing terrorists from exploiting free trade to export lethal cargo. Launched in 2003, the PSI allows for the seizure of missiles and other potential components of WMD while being transferred at sea or in the air. While Washington says 60 countries have expressed support for the PSI, key legal questions remain over the interdiction of suspect ships in international waters or in seas belonging to a country that does not back the initiative.

Supporters of the initiative say exercises such as the one held off Singapore are crucial to hone multinational coordination while legal issues are ironed out. “Let me say that the gathering of assets ... is really a demonstration of the collective will of the PSI nations in coming together to tackle this urgent threat of WMD proliferation from North Korea,” said Singapore Navy fleet commander Rear Admiral Chew Men Leong. “We hope that Exercise Deep Sabre can help contribute to enhance the ability of PSI nations to come together, work together in a cooperative and coordinated manner to tackle the issue of WMD material proliferation from North Korea,” he told reporters aboard the RSS Endurance.

Singapore Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said the same linkages that promote free trade also “created more conduits and opportunities for proliferators (of weapons) from North Korea to do their nasty business”.

Commander Richard Powell of the British Royal Navy said Britain would host the next PSI exercises, part of which will be carried out in the Indian Ocean. Holding the exercises in different regions is partly aimed at attracting other countries to support the initiative, Powell said. “It’s not a closed shop,” he told reporters after watching the exercise. “We want more countries to sign up to the principles and become involved in this activity.”
Posted by:Steve White

#2  key legal questions remain over the interdiction of suspect ships in international waters or in seas belonging to a country that does not back the initiative.

FWIW, Malaysia has agreed in principle to sign the PSI.
Posted by: Pappy   2005-08-21 14:38  

#1  PSI, brought to you by Bulldog Bolton
Posted by: Captain America   2005-08-21 02:15  

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