SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, Singapore - With 35 countries here in
Singapore for the IISS
Shangri-La Dialogue, there's a lot of chatter about what might happen and
what various high level delegations are up to. Some of the best intelligence
can be found on the Twitter feed
of IISS Director-General and CEO John
Chipman (@chipmanj).
"Teams from #US and #China
working well together as #IISS_Asia
#ShangriLaDialogue approaches: have agreed room for
Gates-LiangGuanglie bilat," Chipman tweeted late Thursday, referring to today's
highly
anticipated meeting between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Liang Guanglie.
Earlier today,
Chipman might have spilled some information too soon.
"Expectations build
at #IISS_Asia #ShangriLaDialogue about joint press statement SecDef Gates and
Chinese defence minister," he tweeted.
The tweet was later
deleted, but not before being captured on the Twitter feed of your humble Cable guy, who will also be live
tweeting and live blogging the entire conference in real time (@joshrogin).
It's unclear whether
the rumored Gates-Liang joint statement has been scuttled or if it's just not
supposed to be public yet, but a joint statement would fall in line with Gates'
effort to portray a healthy and improving U.S.-China military to military
relationship on his last foreign trip before stepping down.
(UPDATE: We are told reliably by two sources that there is no joint
statement planned. Each side will issue separate statements before the
meeting.)
Chipman also wants
his followers to know there could be other big developments at the conference
that have nothing to do with China.
"#IISS_Asia #ShangriLaDialogue will not just cover #US #China
relations. Opportunity for #Thailand
-#Cambodia
talks too if seized by parties," he tweeted.
"#China
#Vietnam
#Philippines
#Malaysia
#Brunei
defence chiefs all at IISS#ShangriLaDialogue: crucial chance for#Spratly
conflict resolution?" he asks.
Chipman notes that
the South China Sea issue will be hotly debated and will draw attention to the
speeches of Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh and Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib bin Tun Hj Abdul Razak.
He also predicts that
Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa might talk about basing
issues in Japan. Your humble Cable
guy is off to Tokyo next week following the conference and is looking for
Kitazawa's comments on the announcement of Prime Minister Naoto Kan that
he
intends to resign.
Chipman's twitter feed is a mix of inside tips, public
relations messaging, and his own hopes for the event. He even puts forth a
challenge for the various delegations to take advantage of Burma's presence at
the conference.
"Defence Minister of #Myanmar
to lead delegation to #IISS_Asia #ShangriLaDialogue #Singapore.
Chance for key states constructively to engage?"
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