SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, ASH CARTER: OK, well listen, thanks a lot everyone for coming. This is my fifth trip as secretary of defense to the Asia-Pacific region, which is a sign of the significance that we attach to our long-standing defense presence and activities out in this region and the fact that the Asia-Pacific is the single most consequential one for America's future because it is the place where half of the world's population and half the economic activity is. So for that reason alone it's very significant to us.
This will be my second Shangri-La Dialogue, a great dialogue, a great coming together of regional leaders. As it happens, I was at the very first one of those years and years ago, and I've watched it grow and develop over the years. It is a terrific opportunity to visit with many of my counterparts and other leaders around the region.
With respect to our activities in the Asia-Pacific, I spoke at the Annapolis commencement last week to the graduates there because they will all have a big role to play in this region and about all the things that the United States is doing as part of its so-called rebalance, which is a way of - both - not only continuing but reinvigorating 70 years of -- played a pivotal military role in the region and standing for principle and inclusion and collective approaches to common security problems in the region like humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, relief efforts, maritime security, freedom of the commons, all the things that everybody out here values in this region.
So we've stood for principle and we've stood for a strong -- for seven decades now where -- and the rebalance in essence is our commitment to strength and principal on a continued basis out here.
Let me take the Singapore part first. I'll have the opportunity, which I very much look forward to, of meeting with Prime Minister Lee. I'll do that tomorrow and also the Defense Minister Eng Hen, very good partners of ours, met with them both on previous occasions.
Met with the Defense Minister Eng Hen last December, and we agreed at that time to host a rotational presence of U.S. P-8 maritime patrol aircraft in Singapore, which we're doing, and therefore tomorrow he and I will go on a P-8 patrol to look at the very busy waters of the - the area (inaudible) Malacca Strait, which is a super highway for super tankers, as they say.
On Saturday I'll deliver a plenary address in the morning to the entirety of the Shangri-La Dialogue. I'll talk about how we can all continue to work together in an inclusive, networked, principled way towards common security, how the United States fits into that and how our approach is one of principle and inclusion and collective addressing of common problems and challenges as well as opportunities in the region, and I'll also meet with - have a number of both bilateral and larger meetings with my colleagues and counterparts around the region.
So it's going to be a very active two days and once again, thank you all for coming. And now I'll take your questions.
Peter...
STAFF: I want to remember who I didn't get to yesterday first, so, Thomas.
Q: Thank you. Do I need to - do I need to...
STAFF: Yes, please.
Q: I'd just like to say that - are you envisioning meeting any of your Chinese counter-parts and who, would you say, last year you took quite a strong tone, is part of a - will you be increasing that tone this year? Can you talk a little bit about that?
SEC. CARTER: Well, first of all, I - there is a Chinese delegation there. I expect that they will be there as they were last year. I don't have any specific meetings set up with Chinese representatives there but I look forward to seeing them, and I'm very glad they're there.
And that gets to the second part of your question. The American approach is extremely consistent and has been, not just last year to this year, but for years and years, and that's really good meaning of the American presence here. It has been the American presence here and it's standing for principle and inclusion as well as strength, as I said, that has been one of the key factors in keeping peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, which in turn has led to all of the wonderful miracles of given progress that have occurred down here starting with Japan and Korea and Taiwan, Southeast Asia and, today, China and India.
So we've been very consistent in that regard. We've been very consistent in the rebalance and I mean, if we - we are continued to invest in it, we continue to make modernization improvements that are included in our budget. So that - continues to - it's not a policy change, but it's a further implementation of our long-standing policy here.
Plus, I'll be talking about - and I don't want to get ahead of what I say in two days, all the things that we're doing, and have done since I was last here, just to the normal course of events to build on our alliances and partnerships. I just mentioned one, which is the agreement with Singapore on notational presence of P8, so that's just one example.
STAFF: David.
Q: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much secretary.
With your counterparts from the Philippines, and are you surprised at all about some of the remarks that we've heard from the new president of the Philippines and the foreign minister, essentially questioning whether the alliance is necessarily long-term. Is that helpful in this current environment?
SEC. CARTER: I don't have any plans to meet with the - I gather there will be a Philippine delegation here.
With respect to our relationship with the Philippines, that is an alliance relationship. We take that very seriously. It's long-standing. It is, as we say, ironclad. It is with a democracy and so they have a new government there and we look forward to working with them, talking with them - about our alliance, about security affairs in the region and I very much look forward to meeting my new counterpart. I gather there will be a new counterpart when one is named and continuing to work with the Philippines in what is for us, at the region, a long-standing and very strong alliance.
Q: (inaudible)
STAFF: Yep, you're good.
Q: The correlation of forces since you were last at Shangri-La, has that gotten better or worse such as (inaudible) we've done. You mentioned quite a few of the things Vietnam has gotten closer - we've done several FONOPs, on the other hand we have more artificial islands, we have rumors there will be a Chinese air defense zone declared - you know, looking back at your speech last year, are things going - getting better, getting worse or just changing?
SEC. CARTER: Well, there are some of both. There's a tremendous amount of development of - what I've called this network of principled security. I gave the example of the P-8s. There's work that we're doing with India, and Prime Minister Modi will be visiting the United States in just a couple weeks time. That relationship's made great progress in the last year. With respect to Vietnam we're doing a lot.
Now again, none of this is aimed at anyone. It doesn't aim to isolate anyone. But there's lots that has transpired over the last year, absolutely. On the other side of the ledger are some concerning activities with - you named some with respect to maritime claims and excessive claims. Of course, there are a number of parties to those. But China has done by most - by far the most over the course of the last year.
And just to remind you, the United States doesn't take a position in the claim itself, but we do stand for principle and for international law in this regard, and actions like this by any kind of party are provocative and destabilizing. They won't affect our operations, that’s for sure. But they do have the effect of being concerning to folks in the region, which causes them to come to us more and more.
Q: (inaudible)
(OFF-MIC)
Q: (inaudible) and I had a few question. Now (inaudible) of China (inaudible) I had two questions.
One is China. How is the relationship with China in relations with North Korea? Why with the other nation -- (inaudible)?
SEC. CARTER: Well, I mean, we have elements of cooperation, strong elements of cooperation with China, even as we have some elements of competition. One of the areas where we've cooperated now for quite some years is with respect to North Korea.
Now, I won't speak to the Chinese, but I think everyone is pretty frustrated at their -- at North Korean behavior, and provocative behavior. And we have worked with China, both in the Five Party context and other contexts, including the United Nations, where China has made -- played a very important role, taking an important stand.
You know, in the mean time, we continue to stand strong with our allies in their defense and our collective defense, namely, the Republic of Korea and Japan.
STAFF: Yes -- (inaudible).
Q: Thank you, secretary. My name is -- (inaudible). In terms of the crime in Okinawa, on the -- (inaudible) -- meeting with your Japanese counterpart, do you discuss the possibility of further base realignment, or reduction, or revising SOFA?
SEC. CARTER: Well, first of all, with respect to the commission of a crime on Okinawa, that is a despicable, deplorable crime.
I immediately, that day, called my counterpart, Defense Minister Nakatani, to express my apologies and deep regret over that, and to indicate to him that we would take every action possible to ensure that there was no repeat, and this kind of thing never happened again.
To get to your question about the SOFA, we are looking at the implementation of the SOFA, as I discussed with him at the time. But your other point was about the Futenma replacement facility and plan. The Japanese government continues to be on course as the U.S. government is on course to make that move, which is important for the alliance and our military strength of the alliance.
STAFF: A lot of moving parts here today.
Q: -- (inaudible).
Q: -- (inaudible) -- sir. I wanted to get back to the Philippines. About a month ago, while you were visiting the Philippines, you announced that 275 forces would stay, and about a dozen aircraft at five rotational bases.
I wanted to know what the status of those personnel were? Are there follow-on forces, and did the election surprise you? Is that affecting this -- the footprint of U.S. personnel there?
SEC. CARTER: We're -- Tara, our plans for EDCA and implementation are on track. We haven't changed our plans at all.
We look forward to working with the new Philippine government, as we always do when there is a new government in -- a democratic ally, talking to them about the alliance and all of our activities together.
I look forward to having those conversations.
Q: Have the -- have the first set of forces rotated out, have the new follow-on forces come in?
SEC. CARTER: I'm going to have to ask Dave Shear exactly where we are. I forget what the precise schedule -- well, I don't think the schedule has changed in any way, Tara, to get to your point.
STAFF: The first tranche of forces rotating -- (inaudible).
SEC. CARTER: Okay. And our --
STAFF: And we'll be discussing with the Philippines, also.
SEC. CARTER: Okay. So, it's the same as -- (inaudible). Thanks. Thank you, Dave.
STAFF: Bob?
Q: Mr. Secretary -- (inaudible) -- the North Koreans -- (inaudible) you said fourth and second -- the second missile failure.
I was just wondering whether that series of failures changes in anyway your assessment of the progress they're making for the -- (inaudible).
SEC. CARTER: Well, I mean, whatever the outcome, this is something that is provocative, it's destabilizing, it's contrary to the United Nations Security Council resolutions, which call on North Korea not to carry out such ballistic missile activities.
So, whatever the outcome -- and yes, there have been five consecutive failures there. But we continue to -- and everybody else in the region, and for that matter, most of the world continues to be concerned about North Korean missile activity with two important consequences.
One is, the United Nations continuing to act very strongly with respect to North Korea. And the second is us and our allies -- Japan and South Korea -- continuing to stand strong, and especially in the area of missile defense, to continue to build, improve our missile defenses.
And of course, they were posturing in this case and those other cases for the defense of our own forces and our own allies in the region.
STAFF: We'll go to Lori and then Paul.
Q: Just a quick follow-up, if I may.
Q: Sorry.
Q: Just the fact that they've had that many failures -- (inaudible) -- does that tell you at least a little something about the state of their program?
SEC. CARTER: Well, I don't want to -- I don't want to get into intelligence assessments of it.
They have often failures. We have said that. They haven't shared with the world their assessment of why those all failed.
But again, whatever the outcome of the test, the fact remains is that they're trying to make those missiles fly. That's the critical fact that we're -- we're acting both diplomatically through the U.N. and militarily through our allies, so that we continue to protect ourselves.
STAFF: Lori?
Q: Hi, Mr. Secretary. My name is Lori -- (inaudible). Thank you.
Do -- do you have any briefs on counter-ISIL operations? When you sit down with these foreign leaders, are you going to ask them for any additional contributions? And how -- how satisfied are you with the current contributions to this counter-ISIL operation?
SEC. CARTER: Yeah. I certainly expect counter-ISIL to be a topic of conversation, because there are a number of countries in Southeast Asia who are concerned with the possibility of metastasis, as I call it, of ISIL to their own region.
And we are committed to cooperating with them in that regard. But I think the main thing that I can share with them -- and this gets to your question -- is the situation and the results that are occurring on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria. They're very interested in that, because that's where ISIL arose, and it is necessary to stamp it out there and defeat it, which we're going to do.
I think they're going to be very interested in how we're doing both in Iraq and Syria. You're right, they're participating. We're very grateful for that.
And to you question, are we satisfied? I'm not satisfied with anyone, including the United States, as we're constantly looking for new opportunities to accelerate the defeat of ISIL. And I'm sure my colleagues share that.
And I always with them, as I do in our own government look for, identify -- and in this case, request from them -- additional contributions. And as we find additional contributions that would be well suited to their own capabilities, I don't have any problem asking them for them.
And there's a wide variety of areas. People tend to think about contributions as being military, and that can be important. But just remember, for example, that in the case of Hiit and Ramadi, and eventually Fallujah and Mosul, just to take the Iraq side, you know, these are cities that are going to require a tremendous amount of help to stabilize them and get the people back to the kind of life that they deserve to have.
This is the kind of contribution that many countries can make. So, yes, I will be talking about that with all my colleagues.
And I think -- I'm confident I can speak for them in this regard. They, like the United States, want to accelerate the defeat of ISIL, and we will be sharing ideas for how we can do that, both in Iraq and Syria and anywhere else it might spread, including Southeast Asia.
STAFF: So, the last word is Paul.
SEC. CARTER: Paul.
Q: I have two separate questions.
One is on -- do you have any plans to discuss the deployment of THAAD during this summit?
And have you had any discussions with –the Chinese on that? Are they on board with getting a THAAD in South Korea?
The separate -- the second question is -- (inaudible)?
SEC. CARTER: I -- I will see my colleague, Defense Minister Han. I'm sure that topic will come up.
It's not something we need to discuss much, because it's being -- the plans are moving forward. This is an alliance decision, a decision of the United States and the Republic of Korea, which is about protecting us both from a North Korean missile attack.
So, it's an alliance decision, a decision we took together. The implementation of it will be a series of decisions that we take together, and it's for our own protection against North Korea, and everybody should understand that.
And -- (inaudible).
Q: Have some timing on –when that might happen?
And then separately, there were some reports that there was an offensive in the -- Manbij area -- (inaudible)?
SEC. CARTER: I don't -- I don't have a specific update on the timing. It's possible that they continue more on those discussions going on.
With respect to the Manbij operation, I don't want to go into the, you know, daily details of how it's going, except to say that the Arab-led force, which we're supporting, is conducting that operation, moving towards Manbij City, which is important for a couple of reasons.
First of all, the region in which it -- Manbij City is the central city, is one through which a lot of foreign fighter flow occurs. And that is what makes it essential and important for the counter-ISIL fight in Syria.
Second, there's a -- if there -- we know that there's external plotting conducted from Manbij City, not just Raqqa, but also for Manbij against the homelands of Europe, Turkey -- so, all good friends and allies of ours -- and the United States as well.
So, it's an important objective for us and for the counter-ISIL fight in general, for both those reasons. This is a capable force. We're doing all of the things that we can always do to enable capable and motivated local forces to fight ISIL. All of the things that the United States military and our coalition partners bring to bear.
STAFF: Thanks, everybody.
SEC. CARTER: Okay. Good to be with everybody.