US Military Chiefs Skip UK-Led Security Forum For First Time

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- The US declined for the first time to send any uniformed military or government personnel to speak at a key security conference organized by the UK and held in Japan this year, even as regional allies seek to strengthen coordination.

The Pacific Future Forum, being held Friday and Saturday on board the UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in Tokyo Bay, features the UK and Japanese defense ministers as speakers, and senior military officials from Japan and Western nations.

The US Seventh Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Fred W. Kacher, was among those invited to speak, according to people familiar with the matter, but the organizers received no response.

The Seventh Fleet didn't immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours. Mark Sedwill, the chairman of the Pacific Future Forum, declined to comment.

The Pentagon in July pulled out of the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, with a spokeswoman saying it“promotes the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country, and hatred for the President of the United States.” Later that month, the Defense Department reportedly issued a memo suspending participation in privately organized forums. The Pacific Future Forum is government-run.

Mark Montgomery, a former US rear admiral, said in a panel discussion that he was“ashamed” that the US hadn't sent any speakers to the Pacific Future Forum. In May, China broke with typical practice by declining to send its top military diplomat to the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, another major security conference.

Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy in East Asia at King's College London, said on the sidelines of the Pacific Future Forum that it was“remarkable” that the US had decided not to send any official participants to the event. The US had missed“the opportunity to be on stage alongside NATO and East Asian allies to discuss the value of ever closer ties,” Patalano said.

The Pacific Future Forum, first held in 2018, is usually convened in Europe and known as the Atlantic Future Forum. It has been held six times previously, all with official US participation, according to the forum organizers. The location shifted to Japan this year because of the Prince of Wales' deployment to Asia, where it has been taking part in training exercises in Australia.

In 2024, US participants included both military and diplomatic personnel, such as Major General Robert Sofge, who was at the time commander of US Marine forces in Europe and Africa.

(Updates with a comment in the seventh paragraph from a professor. A previous version of this story corrected the spelling of 'Mark Sedwill.')

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