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Chinese officers join
DeRussy security center

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies at Fort DeRussy has been working for some time to accommodate officers from the Chinese government.

But when Defense Secretary William Cohen announced Tuesday from Beijing that Chinese officers would be allowed to study at the military think-tank, the news caught its president, H.C. "Hank" Stackpole, by surprise with a late-night phone call.

Barbara O'Neal, the center's spokeswoman, said the Chinese officers probably will join the next 12-week class, which will start in October.

The goal of the center, which is patterned after the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany, is to bring together young military officers and key civilians from the Pacific Rim's 44 countries in an informal setting.

The intent is to develop relationships among these young officers, which would be beneficial as they progress in their country's military in later years.

The center, which until last month was in the penthouse of a Waikiki building, will dedicate its new facilities on Aug. 23.

Nearly $9.5 million has been spent in renovating what was once the Army Reserve's two-story Kalani Center. Since it opened in 1995, 461 military officers have attended the 12-week course.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, who was instrumental in getting start-up funding for the center, will be one of the guest speakers at the Aug. 23 dedication. Other speakers will be Adm. Dennis Blair, Pacific Forces commander; Stanley Roth, assistant secretary of the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and former Defense Secretary William J. Perry, now with the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.