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Tiny Singapore to spend $23 bln on defence by 2015-Jane's SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Tiny Singapore, with a population of 5.2 million and a land area half the size of Greater London, is likely to spend $23 billion on purchases of patrol aircraft, helicopters and other military equipment by 2015, according to a new report by IHS Jane's. The Southeast Asian city-state, flanked by Indonesia and Malaysia, sits on one of the busiest sea lanes in the world and lists piracy as one of the main security threats in the region. IHS Jane's said while ties with China were cordial and...

* MARCH 4, 2010, 8:57 A.M. ET Singapore Warns of Strait Attack By WAYNE MA SINGAPORE--Terrorists may be planning attacks on oil tankers and other large ships in the Malacca Strait, the Singapore Shipping Association said Thursday, citing an advisory from the Singapore Navy. The warning, if accurate, may signal a tactical shift for terrorist groups operating in the region that would include sea-based targets. The navy's Information Fusion Centre "received an indication that a terrorist group is planning attacks on oil tankers in the Malacca Straits," it said in the advisory, which was reviewed by Dow Jones Newswires. "This...

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India targeting China's oil supplies By David Blair in New Delhi 15/09/2008 Military planners in India are eyeing a crucial junction of the world which serves as the conduit for 80 per cent of China's imported oil. The Strait of Malacca, where the Indian Ocean joins the Pacific, is seen as China's Achilles' heel. These shipping lanes, vital for Beijing's energy supplies, could be the setting for any future confrontation between India and China. The two giant powers are long-standing rivals who share a disputed 2,100-mile border and are waging a diplomatic struggle for influence in Asia. They fought a...

Forget Johnny Depp and cutlasses. Pirates today carry AK-47s and use speed boats to plunder gas tankers and aid ships - with six attacks this week alone. "Off Acheh, Malacca straits: Armed pirates in an unlit speedboat, blue hull, length about 10 metres. Approached a bulk carrier underway. They tried to board from stern. Raised alarm, crew mustered and activated fire hoses and directed search lights. Noticing crew alertness, pirates aborted boarding." This isn't a scene from a movie, it's a real-life report of a pirate attack on Monday off the coast of Indonesia. The pirates are not always foiled....

When 35 pirates carrying machine guns and rocket launchers boarded a tanker laden with methane in the Malacca Strait in March, it sent a shudder through the crew, and a ripple of fear from Tokyo to Washington. It also served as a reminder of the risks to world trade, and of the potential for terrorism in the region. The attack on the tanker turned out to be routine highway robbery in the strait, whose waters are shared by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. But in the nightmare scenario, terrorists using the methods of modern-day pirates seize a gas tanker and use...

Malaysia says increased cooperation among Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia is sufficient to protect the vital Malacca Straits against pirates and terrorists. The Malacca Straits is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Lying between Malaysia and Indonesia and Singapore, the straits carry a third of the world's trade, and half its oil supplies. Until recently, piracy was a serious problem on the narrow waterway. The International Maritime Bureau says a third of the global pirate attacks on shipping occur in Indonesian waters. But speaking Sunday at a regional security conference in Singapore, Malaysia's defense minister and deputy prime...

China builds submarine base near Malacca StraitsChina is building a submarine base on an Indonesian island close to the Malacca Straits. Australia has protested the submarine base plan, according to diplomatic sources. The base would be the first Chinese naval base outside China.

A private security firm employing former members of elite military units has begun providing armed escorts to ships plying some of Asia's most pirate-infested waters, a media report said. Singapore-based Background Asia Risk Solutions has its own armour-plated vessel that accompanies boats anywhere between Sri Lanka and the South China Sea for about 50,000 US dollars a mission, the Straits Times said. The company employs 60 former members of crack military units from Singapore and elsewhere, who carry out their escort missions armed with M-16 and M-4 assault rifles, according to the Straits Times. The paper, quoting managing director Alex...

KUALA LUMPUR : The security of the Malacca Strait is the responsibility of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore only, Kuala Lumpur said, dashing any plans by Japan to deploy gunboats to help rescue two of its nationals kidnapped by pirates. "We will do whatever we can, but the principle of sovereignty has to be respected," said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also defence minister. Japan's coast guards had said they were considering dispatching patrol vessels and aircraft to the area, if Malaysia made such a request, after two Japanese officers and a Filipino crewman were seized from a tugboat...

Tsunami diplomacy: Indo-US engagement creates new waves in the Indian Ocean   C RAJA MOHAN   NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 30 Responding to the extraordinary humanitarian challenge arising from Sunday’s tsunami strike, India and the United States have begun to overcome entrenched mindsets in their establishments and prepare for unprecedented naval cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. Thanks to some fleet-footed diplomacy between New Delhi and Washington in the last 48 hours, Indian and US armed forces, along with those of Japan and Australia, are about to unveil one of the biggest multilateral relief efforts the world has ever seen. Although...

CHINA'S huge appetite for oil to power industry and its electricity generation is a commodity-market tectonic shift whose outcome and strategic implications are unclear. What is clear is that China is in a great hurry to close deals on long-term supply, including that of gas. There is also the trickier corollary to consider: Pipeline construction across international borders to reduce dependence on ocean supply routes that Beijing calculates can only get less secure. China is the second largest oil consumer after the United States, accounting for 40 per cent of the global increase in consumption since 2000. For a random...

Three-nation patrols of the piracy-prone Malacca Straits are successfully reducing crime, naval officials said amid warnings that Jemaah Islamiyah militants had plotted to attack shipping. Indonesia naval commander Vice Admiral Didik Herupurnomo said Thursday the joint patrols involving his fleet and the navies of Malaysia and Singapore had begun squeezing pirates out of the busy waterway since they started last month. His report came as Indonesia's intelligence chief said that captured operatives of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah had confessed to investigators they were considering whether to target the crucial seaway. "Senior Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists now in detention have admitted that...

SINGAPORE, (AFP) - Singapore has welcomed an Indonesian proposal for joint patrols to protect the pirate-infested Malacca Strait, which is regarded as a vulnerable target for maritime terrorist attacks. While emphasising Singapore had also been heavily pushing for joint co-operation, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said Indonesian navy chief Bernard Kent Sondakh's comments last week were a positive development. "We welcome the proposal from the Indonesian navy chief for greater maritime cooperation for the security of the Malacca and Singapore Straits, among the three littoral states," Teo told reporters. Sondakh said on Thursday his country had suggested a joint task...

Beijing, July 18. (PTI): China today offered a guarded response to reports that India has deployed its warships in the Straits of Malacca for escort operations along with the US Navy. ``We have taken note of the relevant report. We hope such kind of cooperation will be conducive to regional peace and stability,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said. When asked specifically if Beijing welcomed the presence of Indian naval ships in the pirate-infested straits of Malacca, Kong declined further comment. Though China supports the US-led war against terrorism, the increasing presence of American forces in South Asia, Central...