US general: Conventional conflict threat highest in Asia Pacific

MANILA, Philippines — The threat of conventional conflict is higher in the Asia-Pacific than in any other region in the world today, an influential American general said.

United States Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, also the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the likelihood of a nation-versus-nation conflict is high due to sentiments evoked by the territorial disputes of smaller nations including the Philippines and Vietnam with China.

"In this region, it is nations competing with other nations," he said in a speech to soldiers of the US Army Pacific on Tuesday.

Dempsey cited nationalistic ideologies as well as the perceived militaristic rise of China contribute to what he calls a "confused security environment."

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"In this region of the world, there's a rising sense of nationalism among the countries," the chairman said. "The effort and intent of China to emerge in the world stage presents a different type of security challnege.

Dempsey said that the scenario makes President Obama's strategy rebalance US interests in the Asia-Pacific region timely and "right."

The Asia-Pacific region has many security interests for the United States -- so many interests and implications for the region and the world, the chairman said.

South Asia and Southeast Asia alone have 17 percent of the world’s land mass, he noted, but 50 percent of its population.

In the Middle East, by comparison, nationalism is breaking down amid fragmentation of national identity and the emergence of extremist groups

"In the Middle East, it is about groups who don't ever care about borders competing with each other," he explained.

On the other hand, Europe finds itself in a situation somewhere in between that in Asia and the Middle East.

"There's a group of nations trying to pull Europe together with organizations like NATO and the European Union," Dempsey said.

But he noted a countervailing trend in different parts of Europe to see things in terms of national interests and ethnic identities.

"In Europe is a new challenge with Russian aggressiveness and assertiveness that we are trying to shape through NATO," he said amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

The simmering conflict in Asia likely over the South China Sea and the East China Sea warrants the US foreign policy shift, he said.

"Frankly, the distractions we are facing elsewhere shouldn’t distract from our interests and to posture ourselves better in the Pacific," Dempsey said.