http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/world/11255560.htm
AP: China military expansion worries U.S. MANILA, Philippines - A month after assuming command of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon on Tuesday voiced apprehension about China's military expansion and its intentions toward Taiwan, while promising "whatever assets we may have" to Southeast Asian allies fighting terrorism. Fallon said his priorities as head of the largest of nine U.S. military commands - an area stretching from the U.S. West Coast to across the Pacific and Indian Oceans - would be fighting the war on terror and building regional military cooperation so "we can put ourselves in a position where we can respond quickly." He also noted China's increasing military presence and the repercussions for Taiwan - the second-most dangerous flashpoint in the region after the Korean Peninsula. "China is becoming a significant power in the region," Fallon told The Associated Press. "I don't know what the desired end state is. I'm not sure they do either. "They're vibrant, they have huge resources and lots of needs. I believe they are beginning to look outward, and they haven't done so for decades," he said. "They're working their way into becoming a power, and we recognize that. The issue would be how they plan to position themselves, what are the objectives, what is the motivation behind this pretty obvious building of military power?" Fallon said that last year, China acquired "a lot of high-tech equipment that doesn't particularly seem defensive to me." He also called China's anti-secession law aimed at Taiwan, which the mainland views as a renegade territory, "unhelpful" in defusing the tension across the Taiwan Strait. "The position of my government is that we ask no oversteps are taken to upset the status quo," he said. The United States is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself if China attacks. It is the only major nation that sells advanced weapons to the self-ruled island. Fallon, who had just visited South Korea, said North Korea "has demonstrated a track record of less than predictable decision-making. "Its declaration recently that they have nuclear weapons capabilities may or may not be true," he said. "We certainly know from many sources that they appear to be working on this and maybe they have nuclear weapons." He said he was deeply concerned about North Korea's ballistic missiles program, "one of the few in the world in the hands of people that give us reason to pause." "If in fact they do have nuclear weapons and if they were to marry up those weapons to the delivery systems, if they were to proliferate those delivery systems to other nations, it's a real concern," he said. Fallon, 60, was inside the Pentagon when a hijacked passenger jet crashed into the building on Sept. 11, 2001, killing 42 people. He said he has "a very personal understanding" of terrorism. He said terror groups like Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines "seem to cooperate when it suits them." "Some appear to be very well organized with very hard connections to al-Qaida network," he said, without elaborating. "They find mutual consolation in helping each other." Recent Philippine military intelligence reports said the two groups have turned the southern Philippines - where U.S. soldiers are training Filipino troops - into a major training ground for explosives and combat tactics. Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for a string of deadly bombings in Indonesia in recent years, while the Abu Sayyaf is accused of various attacks in the Philippines. Fallon promised more military assistance to countries like the Philippines and Indonesia. "We're quite willing and ready to put whatever assets we may have, whatever capabilities, into this effort," he said. "It's not just a local problem." -- The Red Sox killed my father. 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