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Twenty-six foreign nations have been invited to the Association of the United States Army’s LANPAC land forces forum May 19-21 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.
The land forces and industry conference, being held for the third year in a row in Hawaii, is seen as an Asia-Pacific counterpart to the big AUSA Global Force Symposium and Exposition coming up at the end of the month in Huntsville, Ala.
"Just as with our AUSA conventions (on the mainland), we think it’s important to bring together partners and allies and allow a venue for industry to demonstrate a variety of capabilities, and also, to provide a venue for professional development for those land forces here in the Pacific," said Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for U.S. Army Pacific, headquartered at Fort Shafter.
The Hawaii event, which bills itself as a "world-class international event highlighting the role of land forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater and their contributions to the joint force in peace and war," is put on with U.S. Army Pacific and U.S. Pacific Command.
The following countries have been invited to the Hawaii event:
Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
Although information posted in an AUSA flier on the Internet states the Hawaii event would also bring in government and industry representatives from Russia and China, officials said those two nations are not invited.
The United States suspended military-to-military engagements with Russia in March 2014 over its actions in Crimea, and the two nations continue to have frosty relations.
U.S. military engagement with China is increasing in areas such as military leader visits and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief cooperation, but the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000 prohibits military-to-military contact with the People’s Liberation Army that would "create a national security risk due to an inappropriate exposure" in 12 operational areas.
Some of those areas include force projection; nuclear, advanced combined-arms and joint combat, surveillance and reconnaissance operations; and military space operations. Exceptions are granted for search and rescue or humanitarian operations or exercises.
The Indo-Asia-Pacific region is one of the most militarized in the world, with seven of the 10 largest-standing armies.
The 106,000 soldiers assigned to U.S. Pacific Command are in "very high demand" for engagement, Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, head of U.S. Army Pacific, said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies earlier this month.
"Our friends in the region are asking to meet with us as professionals with mutual respect, to exchange knowledge, to exchange skill sets," Brooks said.
Brooks said U.S. Army Pacific is having success at increasing land force dialogue with China.
"Our view is this is a channel of communication that’s really important to have, especially as we have frictions that will occur in the air and maritime environment," Brooks said.
Brooks is scheduled to speak at the LANPAC conference. Other military leaders on the roster include Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., head of U.S. Pacific Fleet, scheduled to speak about U.S. foreign policy in the region, and Lt. Gen. John A. Toolan, who leads U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific. Toolan will talk about developing amphibious capabilities.
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