In an article titled “The Russians Are Coming…to Southeast Asia”, carried by The Wall Street Journal and written by Ben Otto, the reporter begins his piece by saying that:
“Russia is rebuilding its profile across Southeast Asia with new diplomacy, naval exercises and deals in arms and energy, as it tries to diversify its trading partners and renew its sway in the Pacific… The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ 10 fast-growing members, with a combined $2.6 trillion economy, dire energy needs and rising military budgets, are a prime market for Russia’s top exports: hydrocarbons, energy technology and weapons.”
He then introduces some history by telling the reader that:
“The Soviet Union reached the height of its Pacific naval power in the late 1980s, deploying two aircraft carriers and more submarines to the region than the U.S. and Japan combined. It kept its largest overseas military base in Vietnam. Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in the 1990s it pulled back world-wide.
Otto then quotes Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Iseas Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, who surmises that:
“Russia is ‘pushing a bit harder these days, because of the economic crisis’”.
Natalia Bubnova, Director of the Center for Cross-Cultural Communications, Institute of Strategic Assessments (studio guest); Timoty Misir, independent geopolitical analyst (Singapore); Yuri Tavrovsky, professor at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia commented on the issue.
