Navy to beef up presence in Asian waters: report http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-19T131112Z_01_KLR111259_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-USA-ASIA.xml&archived=False
Fri May 19, 2006
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The Pacific fleet of the U.S. Navy aims to step up the number of submarines and aircraft carriers in Asian waters to patrol the region and ensure security, its commander said on Friday.
"It is clear to us the prosperity of (the) economy in the region depends on security," official news agency Bernama quoted Admiral Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, as telling local reporters during a visit to Malaysia.
He gave no further details of the plans, but added that the United States had no intention of interfering with other countries in the Pacific region.
Roughead said countries in the region should strengthen their ability to face submarine attacks that could threaten international trade routes such as the Malacca Strait.
The narrow, strategic waterway is an 805-km (500-mile) channel linking Asia with the Middle East and Europe and carries some 50,000 vessels a year. It also carries some 40 percent of the world's trade, including 80 percent of Japan's and South Korea's oil and gas and 80 percent of China's oil, according to a U.S.-Indonesia Society 2005 study on the impact of a terrorism attack in the strait.
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