Thursday, August 4 2005 15:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: The United States (US) will remain the leading power for the foreseeable future but the rising influence of China and India can no longer be ignored, Singapore's Defence Minister said today (August 4, 2005).

Japan is also playing a more active role in the global strategic arena, making the future of the Asia-Pacific region dependent on the moves by these three regional giants, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said.

"The military and political power of the US has been a pre-eminent factor for a long time and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future," Teo said in a speech to Asia-Pacific military officers at a seminar here.

"But China and India can no longer be ignored. They both have aspirations to be regional, if not global, powers. They are fast gaining economic clout and in the process they are reshaping the geopolitical contours of the region."

The stability of relations between and among China, Japan and India as well as their individual bilateral ties with the United States are crucial to the region's future, he said.

"With their sheer size and strategic weight, what these regional powers do will, like shifts in major tectonic plates, reshape the geopolitical contours of the region," Teo said.

"The complexion of the Asia-Pacific strategic environment will be coloured by how these three regional powers conduct themselves in relation to one another and to the US.

"The Sino-US, US-Japan, Sino-Japanese, Sino-Indian and US-India relationships make up the complex environment which will determine the region's future."