Allies Show Off Maritime Security Skills

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 9-14-2003

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Allies Show Off Maritime Security Skills

Sunday September 14, 2003 1:09 AM

By MIKE CORDER

Associated Press Writer

ON BOARD HMAS SUCCESS (AP) - Japanese coast guardsmen slid down ropes from a helicopter to a cargo ship Saturday, during a high seas exercise showing rogue nations that the world is serious about preventing the transport of weapons of mass destruction.

The maneuvers on the Coral Sea allowed the United States, Japan and Australia to fine tune moves to intercept ships suspected of carrying the deadly armaments.

The exercises served as a special warning to North Korea and Iran because of the relatively advanced stages of their nuclear weapons programs, a senior U.S. official said recently on condition of anonymity.

Code-named ``Exercise Pacific Protector,'' the maneuvers were the first by members of the 11-nation Proliferation Security Initiative, PSI, developed earlier this year by President Bush.

``It sends a message to all those who may for one reason or another contemplate the transfer of weapons of mass destruction,'' Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said after watching the operation off his country's east coast. ``There is a committed global effort across the world that is going to make every effort to stop them.''

An Associated Press reporter aboard the Success watched as the armed boarding party secured the ship's bridge, arrested its crew and minutes later told navy and customs ships surrounding the freighter and three helicopters buzzing overhead they had control of the entire ship and its cargo.

The exercise involved two Australian navy ships, the supply ship HMAS Success and the frigate HMAS Melbourne, along with Japanese-based U.S. destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur and the Japanese Coast Guard ship Shikishima. A French marine patrol aircraft also took part in the initial aerial hunt for the suspect ship.

On Saturday, South Korea's national Yonhap news agency cited a report in North Korea's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, criticizing the initiative.

``This joint military exercise is a military operation that comes before the U.S. military attack against us,'' Rodong said. ``This is a military provocation.''

Once the armed and masked Japanese had conducted an initial search, U.S. Coast Guard troops boarded the freighter from a small boat to check for chemical weapons.

The American ship USNS Private Franklin J. Phillips was used to pose as a fictional Japanese-flagged freighter transporting illicit chemicals.

Besides the participants in the weekend's exercises, the PSI members include Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Britain.

``Because of the fact that North Korea has been a very ready marketer of its missile technologies and because it is talking about moving further down the nuclear weapons path we do have a fear that one day North Korea might get into the business of selling weapons of mass destruction or their precursors,'' Hill said. ``We would not want to see North Korea do that.''

Lawyers from the 11 nation group are investigating what legal powers they have to carry out interceptions like Saturday's exercise, Hill said.

``The operation has got to be within the law and reaching a consensus between the 11 countries about the principles of law is not easy,'' Hill said.

The nations already have met twice to discuss the initiative and Hill said it was important to get other countries involved in the process.

More maneuvers are planned for later this year in Europe, although an exact time and location have not yet been announced.