U.S. Plans 10% Troop Cut in 3 Asian Nations

The United States is preparing to withdraw 10% to 12% of its military forces from South Korea, Japan and the Philippines over the next three years, according to a classified Pacific strategy plan being prepared by the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney will present the plan to South Korean defense officials today as he begins 10 days of high-level meetings with leaders of the East Asian allies.

He will also ask the three countries to assume far greater responsibility for their own defense, by spending more on their own militaries and contributing more to the cost of maintaining U.S. bases on their soil.

The troop cuts, while not as large as those planned for Europe, will involve the demobilization of 12,000 to 15,000 American troops out of the 120,500 currently stationed in the three Pacific nations.

Cheney’s attempted balancing act is likely to unsettle the allies, who want the U.S. troops to remain for political, military and economic reasons, while leaving unsatisfied those in Congress who want more drastic cuts in the costly overseas deployments.

The shift in U.S. military strategy in the region reflects a changing global power balance as well as intense pressures on the Pentagon’s $295-billion annual budget, defense officials say.

The review of Pacific strategy, formally known as the East Asia Strategy Initiative, or EASI, is being prepared at the direction of Congress, which last year demanded that the Pentagon present a detailed justification for the large U.S. military presence in the Far East.

In the review, which is due April 1, Cheney plans to present a vision of the U.S. role in the region over the next 10 years. For the short term, the next two or three years, the report will argue that the United States can withdraw 10% to 12% of its forward-deployed forces in Asia because of diminished Soviet military activity in the region and greater self-defense efforts by U.S. allies. The report will cite the surging economies of South Korea and Japan as a factor in allowing a reduction of U.S. defense efforts there.

The immediate reductions could be a prelude to deeper future cuts if these trends continue, the report says.

According to officials involved in drafting the strategy study, the United States expects South Korea to assume “the leading role” in its own defense within the next several years.

“For 37 years, the United States has dominated the relationship (with South Korea),” one official said. “You can’t learn to drive sitting in the passenger seat.”

To that end, the United States plans shortly to turn over command of the joint U.S.-Korea military structure to a South Korean general. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, that post has always been held by an American four-star general.

The initial U.S. troop withdrawals in all three countries will involve support and headquarters personnel, not combat troops, a knowledgeable official said. The military services will be allowed to determine the types of troops to be removed and the timetable.

The United States has already announced plans to remove 2,000 Air Force personnel working at three South Korean air bases that are to be closed for economy reasons. The planned new cuts of 10%-12% would bring the remaining troop levels down to about 37,000, the lowest number since the start of the Korean War.

Forces stationed in Japan would be reduced to about 52,000 from the current 59,000, while 1,500 to 2,000 troops would be cut from the 17,800 now based in the Philippines.

The reductions will save at most $2 billion a year if the troops are retired from the service and not redeployed to U.S. bases, officials said. There will be no savings if the soldiers are simply relocated, they said.

In public statements at the outset of Cheney’s trip, which began Saturday with three days in Hawaii, the American defense secretary has stressed that the U.S. military plans to stay in the region for the foreseeable future.

“There is no change in the commitment, and our strategic interest in the area will continue undiminished. We will continue to be very actively involved in the area,” Cheney said Sunday. He said that the United States would consider some troop reductions “if the threat had diminished significantly or if our allies were able to do more.”

Privately, however, Cheney and other U.S. officials have warned the Asian nations that unless the Administration makes substantial cuts in U.S. forces in Asia, Congress will step in with far deeper reductions.

In a letter to Cheney delivered just before he left Washington, Democratic Sens. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas and Lloyd Bentsen of Texas urged a “substantial reduction of U.S. military personnel from South Korea, in conjunction with corresponding reduction in North Korea if possible but without them if necessary.”

Bumpers last year called for a 10,000-troop cut in U.S. troops in South Korea, and sentiment is growing on Capitol Hill for reductions of that magnitude.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week on U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. Huntington Hardisty, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, testified that the North Korean army remains a threat to South Korea and that social and economic unrest throughout East Asia will continue to pose security concerns for the United States and its allies.

He urged lawmakers not to be swayed by Soviet calls for reductions in U.S. naval forces in the region, saying they are vital to protecting shipping lanes and other economic interests.

Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.) accused Hardisty and other U.S. military leaders of suffering from “a Holy Roman Empire complex with respect to stationing standing forces overseas.” Dixon particularly objected to the continued presence of more than 40,000 American soldiers in South Korea at a time when its economy is growing rapidly, when it holds a huge trade surplus with the United States and when it refuses to match the size of the North Korean army opposing it.

“It is outrageous for us to maintain a standing force of 40,000-plus troops” in a nation that enjoys such advantages, Dixon thundered. “There is only one nation in the world stupid enough to go along with that sort of a deal.”

PROPOSED TROOP CUTS IN THE PACIFIC

The United States is preparing to withdraw 10% to 12% of its military forces from Japan, South Korea and the Philippines over the next three years, according to a classified Pacific strategy plan being prepared by the Pentagon.

The troop cuts, while not as large as those planned for Europe, will involve the demobilization of 12,000 to 15,000 American troops in the three Pacific nations. Japan: Current U.S. Troop Levels: 59,000 Levels After Proposed Cuts: 52,000 South Korea: Current U.S. Troop Levels: 43,700 Levels After Proposed Cuts: 37,000 Philippines: Current U.S. Troop Levels: 17,800 Levels After Proposed Cuts: 15,800