National Post (National Edition)
Military chiefs meet in B.C. amid Korean tensions
Conference has been planned since last year
Top military commanders from Pacific nations are quietly meeting in Canada as tensions increase over North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons program.
Military jets carrying commanders from more than 20 nations began arriving on the weekend for the meeting in Victoria, B.C. The summit started Sunday and ends on Thursday.
The Canadian Forces initially would not provide details on the meeting, other than to confirm it is happening.
But New Zealand’s top military commander, Lt.Gen. Tim Keating, released a statement to that country’s news media saying that the Indo-Asia Pacific Chiefs of Defence Conference will “provide a forum for maintaining relationships with defence counterparts and understanding their points of view on issues of mutual interest in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Regional concerns will be dealt with in the formal sessions and in multilateral meetings, he added.
After Postmedia published its article Tuesday, the office of Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Jon Vance, issued a statement that the conference “allows the chiefs of defence from countries in the Asia-Pacific region to meet on a regular basis to discuss concerns of mutual importance including, but not limited to, common security challenges, promotion of military relationships, and fostering regional collaboration.”
“This year’s conference has been in the planning stages since 2016, and Canada is co-hosting it along with U.S. Pacific Command,” it added.
The meeting comes as world leaders try to chart a new course of action on North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang said Sunday it had detonated a hydrogen bomb, its sixth test of a nuclear weapon. The U.S. is calling on the United Nations for even tougher sanctions on the isolated country. Asked on the weekend if the U.S. would attack North Korea, President Donald Trump responded, “We’ll see.”
North Korea’s top diplomat at the UN said Tuesday that the nuclear test was a “gift package” for the U.S.
“The recent self-defence measures by my country DPRK are (a) gift package addressed to none other than the U.S.,” said North Korea’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Han Tae Song, in an address to the UN Conference on Disarmament. “The U.S. will receive more gift packages from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists that sanctions against North Korea are not effective and diplomacy is the only way to deal with the country.
Putin also warned that the crisis over North Korea’s weapons program could end in a global catastrophe.
“Ramping up military hysteria in such conditions is senseless; it’s a dead end,” Putin told reporters in China. “It could lead to a global, planetary catastrophe and a huge loss of human life. There is no other way to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, save that of peaceful dialogue.”
Meanwhile, Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday that Japan and South Korea would be allowed to purchase “a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States.” The equipment could be used to defend those nations from North Korea.
Trump had earlier slammed South Korea, labelling its efforts to defuse the tension with North Korea as “appeasement.”
Analysts, however, say Trump is mistaken and the South Korean government has been supportive of the U.S. approach to deal with the North.
France’s Defence Minister Florence Parly told French military officers Tuesday in a speech that Europe is increasingly being threatened by North Korean missiles. “The scenario of an escalation towards a major conflict cannot be discarded,” she said. “Europe risks being within range of Kim JongUn’s missiles sooner than expected.”
North Korea tested two ICBMs in July. Analysts believe the rockets could travel as far as 10,000 kilometres, putting the mainland U.S. within range.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “begging for war.”