AS the finer details of the just-concluded tour of a number of Asian countries by United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta are emerging, an interesting fact that has come to light is the "unusually strong interest" Panetta showed in regard to forging closer military cooperation between the US and Malaysia.
Panetta, who held a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings with Asian allies at the so-called Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, rounded up all his meetings with a one-on-one meeting with Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Pentagon press secretary George Little confirmed in a statement that the two leaders agreed to strengthen the bilateral military-to-military relationship.
"During the meeting, both leaders stated that with a renewed focus on Asia as part of the US defence strategy, they look forward to strengthening the US-Malaysia military-to-military relationship, including expansion of multilateral exercises," Little said.
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