U.S. and Hong Kong (2002)

Adm. Blair Discusses Military Cooperation in SE Asia

Following is a transcript of the program:

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UNITED STATES
PACIFIC COMMAND

TRANSCRIPT
Adm. Dennis C. Blair
Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command
Media Roundtable
Singapore
January 29, 2002

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Question: In your introduction, Admiral, you mentioned that you had reviewed force protection measures with the Singapore authorities. The U.S. Commissioner of Customs, among others in the United States, has recently been talking about the need for much tougher surveillance measures to be imposed in megaports, including Singapore and Hong Kong, against possible use by terrorists with containers for nefarious purposes.

Is this something that you have discussed here with the Singapore authorities? How do you see it playing out?

Adm. Blair: I know this has been a subject of discussion among authorities here in Singapore. I haven't had an update on that recently so I'm not really, I can't really give you anything specific on that, Michael, but it is something which we have to ensure that the efficient flow of commerce takes place or it's not being used against us. There's a role of technology and a role of cooperation and we need to pursue that.

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