The acquisition of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan, and the modernisation of China's strategic forces added to the tension, they told an Asia Pacific Security Conference here.

The September attacks using hijacked planes to ram buildings in New York and Washington has forced nations to upgrade their military capability, in a move which could stir up old animosities in Southeast Asia, they told the conference, being held as part of the Asian Aerospace 2002 event.

Dmitri Trenin, deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, referred to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Asian powers as the advent of a second nuclear age.

"The emergence of nuclear weapons states in South Asia leaves a qualitative and new strategic environment for Asia," said Trenin, a former colonel in the Soviet and Russian armed forces.

"Modernisation of Chinese strategic forces adds to this new environment," he said, adding the new situation "calls for a new level of strategic ... interaction in Asia and there's a new need for a system of nuclear arms control and nuclear safety."

The chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Council in London, Francois Heisbourg, noted that being a non-nuclear power in Asia was now considered an "anomaly".

Luo Renshi, a senior research fellow at the China Institute for International Strategic Studies in Beijing, said any deployment by the US of a missile defence system would force China to develop and deploy its own system.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, assistant professor of political science at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, said the region was "close to the classic definition of an arms race" where a purchase by one country leads a neighbour to do the same.

Because of the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, Southeast Asia has not witnessed an arms race in the past decade, he said.

Pentagon Notifies Congress Of Possible Arms Sale To India Washington (AFP) Feb 25, 2002 - The Pentagon notified Congress Monday of a possible sale to India of Firefinder radar sets in what would be the first US-Indian arms deal since the United States lifted restrictions imposed after a 1998 Indian nuclear test. The package of eight AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radars and associated equipment and services were valued at as much as 146 million dollars, the Pentagon said. "These radars sets will provide an increase in counter-battery artillery capability consistent with India's force planning and defense strategy," the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. India also has asked to buy 26 SINCGAR radio systems that would enable communication between various vehicles and US forces, the agency said. "This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a country which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in South Asia," it said. A Pentagon official said the sale, if approved, would be the first since the United States lifted restrictions on military sales to India earlier this year. The restrictions were imposed on India and Pakistan after their tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998.

What has been detected was a "prestige race" where Thailand, for example, acquired an aircraft carrier and a submarine "which really they cannot operate."

"Now they are leasing submarines with real capabilities ... they are now investing in high-tech weaponry such as satellite surveillance systems, missile systems much easier to deploy.

"The race is becoming very quick," he said, also citing traditional rivalries between Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia and Australia, as well as India and Pakistan.

"That would create perhaps, or stir up, the old animosities, suspicions between nations," he said, adding Myanmar was likely to catch up with Thailand's military modernisation.

"(Myanmar) will certainly make priorities for their defence modernisation," he said.

"Singapore, despite the economic crisis, really kept on modernising. That worries Malaysia, and Malaysia is of course looking for the capable systems and the leasing of submarines. This is really new to the region as compared to the last decade," Panitan said.

"Of course, now they have more reason to do that due to September 11 and the rising of uncertainties."

Asian countries could also attempt to emulate within their capabilities the successful use by the United States of special forces and unmanned aircraft in the campaign against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, he said.

Steven Metz, director of research and chairman for regional strategy and planning at the US Army Strategic Institute, said Asia's diversity should make the region a "laboratory for the evolution of military affairs in the coming decade."

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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