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U.S. Naval Exercises Off Korean Peninsula Intended as ‘Message of Reassurance’ Mattis Beseeches Officials at Singapore Conference to ‘Bear With Us’
(about 17 hours later)
SINGAPORE — United States officials said on Friday that naval maneuvers this week off the Korean Peninsula were the first in two decades to involve two American aircraft carriers in those waters and were intended as a “message of reassurance” to the region. SINGAPORE — Jim Mattis came to the security conference in Singapore with a clear message: The United States would stand up for its allies, explain why North Korea’s nuclear program was a growing danger and generally uphold the international order.
The new details about the exercises, which also involved Japanese warships, were disclosed as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Singapore for a security conference during which concerns over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are certain to be front and center. “We have a deep and abiding commitment to reinforcing the rules-based international order,” Mr. Mattis, the United States defense secretary, said in a major policy address here on Saturday.
“This is about readiness,” said David F. Helvey, a senior adviser on Asian security issues to Mr. Mattis. “This demonstrates that the United States has military capabilities across the western Pacific, including in the Sea of Japan.” But the tables were turned on Mr. Mattis by President Trump’s decision this week to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Suddenly, Mr. Mattis found himself as a representative of an outlier nation — at least in the eyes of many of the Asian officials and international policy experts who filled a packed hall here.
He added: “It sends a message of reassurance, and it does send a message of resolve. But this is part of our routine actions and our presence.” No sooner had Mr. Mattis finished his address than he was thrust into the uncomfortable position of defending White House policy decisions on trade, climate science and burden-sharing in a spirited question-and-answer session.
The defense secretary is also seeking to shore up relations with allies made nervous by President Trump’s campaign talk about pulling back American security commitments in the region. An Australian questioner wanted to know if the United States, which shelved the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and withdrew from the climate accord, was bringing about the destruction of the very global order Mr. Mattis was championing.
Mr. Mattis declined to discuss security issues on the record with reporters who traveled on his plane from Washington. But he read a short statement outlining themes he planned to address in a speech on Saturday, including the importance of “strengthening alliances,” “upholding international law” and “maintaining stability.” It was only the first question about America’s new role in the world, which led Mr. Mattis to loyally defend Mr. Trump while also trying to soothe anxieties.
“As a Pacific nation, we have enduring interests and commitments in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Mr. Mattis, noting the need to help nations bolster their own security while strengthening the United States military to deter war. “Bear with us,” Mr. Mattis said. “Once we have exhausted all possible alternatives, we will do the right thing,” he continued, invoking a famous line about Americans by Winston Churchill.
The carriers involved in the exercise are the Carl Vinson, which has been operating in the region for the past several weeks and whose home port is San Diego, and the Ronald Reagan, which is based in Japan. Each carrier leads a strike group of destroyers, cruisers and submarines, which are also participating in the drill. At another point Mr. Mattis implored his audience to understand that just because the United States had backed away from the multilateral Pacific trade agreement “does not mean we are turning our back.”
The Japanese have joined the exercise with two ships, including a helicopter carrier. Mr. Mattis received some support Friday night from Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who appeared to anticipate the mood of many participants at this annual conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research center based in London.
The naval exercise, which is expected to last several days, is intended to reassure worried allies and demonstrate the reach of American forces. “Some have been concerned with withdrawal from the TPP and now from the Paris climate change agreement herald a U.S. withdrawal from global leadership,” Mr. Turnbull said. “While these decisions are disappointing, we should take care not to rush to interpret an intent to engage on different terms as one not to engage at all.”
“I don’t expect this to change North Korea’s behavior,” said Mr. Helvey, who noted that the Trump administration was relying primarily on diplomatic and economic pressure to try to persuade North Korea to curtail its nuclear and missile programs. Yet within a region that has many coastal cities that climate scientists say may be endangered by climate change, and whose economic growth depends heavily on trade, Mr. Mattis was put on the defensive.
Operations involving two carrier strike groups have taken place in the western Pacific before. Last year, the John C. Stennis and the Reagan carried out drills together in the Philippine Sea. But the current exercise is the first time it has happened in the waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula since the late 1990s, Mr. Helvey said. These were not the themes Mr. Mattis had hoped would dominate the session. The defense secretary underscored that the United States would stand with allies like Japan and South Korea — nations that have been anxious about Mr. Trump’s campaign talk about pulling back from security commitments in the region. The Pacific region, he asserted, is a “priority region” for the United States.
The conference, an annual event organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research center based in London, also provides a venue for Mr. Mattis to meet with his counterparts from South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Turkey and other nations. North Korea was a growing worry, he said, because it had “increased the pace and the scope” of its nuclear and missile programs.
One issue that may come up in discussions with South Korea is the Thaad antimissile system, formally known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. “The United States regards the threat from North Korea as a clear and present danger,” said Mr. Mattis, who stressed that Washington hoped to resolve the dispute through diplomatic means.
Citing North Korea’s growing missile capabilities, the United States sped up the deployment of the antimissile system earlier this year. Each Thaad antimissile battery has six launchers, two of which were put in place southeast of Seoul in April. Mr. Mattis also signaled that he did not intend to take a more relaxed view of China’s territorial claims to the South China Sea in return for any help it might provide in pressing North Korea to curtail its nuclear and missile programs.
The new president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, however, has complained that he was not told when the four remaining antimissile launchers were brought into his country. China’s “artificial island construction and indisputable militarization of facilities on features in international waters undermine regional stability,” said Mr. Mattis, who stressed that the United States would not use partners as “bargaining chips.”
As a candidate, Mr. Moon had pressed for a parliamentary review before the Thaad system was installed, and he has ordered an investigation into why his Defense Ministry did not inform him about the additional launchers. Mr. Mattis also expressed concern over the militants in the Philippines who are linked to the Islamic State. If the international community did not act now to prevent this threat from growing, “it will place long-term regional security at risk,” he said.
American officials have generally portrayed the debate as a matter of internal South Korean politics, and Mr. Helvey insisted that the United States had been forthright with South Korea. The plan had always been to deploy all six launchers, he said. Mr. Mattis also sought to demonstrate the United States’ commitment to the Pacific region by noting that 60 percent of American Navy ships — and soon 60 percent of United States tactical aviation — were assigned there.
“I can’t get into the specifics of what was communicated by whom and when,” he said. As if to underscore that point, two American aircraft carriers have been holding exercises in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, the first time joint carrier operations have been carried out in the sea between Korea and Japan since the late 1990s.
“We have been consulting with the R.O.K. government throughout this entire process to get the entire Thaad battery to the Korean Peninsula, which includes six launchers,” he added, using the acronym for the Republic of Korea. “We have been very transparent.” In his speech and during the question period, Mr. Mattis did not mention Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the global climate change agreement.
But in an attempt to ease concerns about the White House disengaging from the United States’ traditional role as a global power, he argued that Mr. Trump’s first trip had been to the Middle East and that he stood with NATO allies “100 percent.”
Seeking to avoid politics, Mr. Mattis, a voracious reader of history, said the American public had long been conflicted about the burdens of an international role. But then the defense secretary made clear where he stood.
“What a crummy world, if we all retreat inside our own borders,” he said. “Like it or not, we are part of the world.”