JOHN HOWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: How are you, General?

MARK DAVIS: But as well as the official reason for his journey, it soon became apparent there were a few other items on the agenda. That Australia was likely to buy into America's highly controversial missile shield system was announced as casually as a Sunday lunch.

JOHN HOWARD: And those discussions have finished which I hope will lead to a memorandum of understanding.

MARK DAVIS: And almost as an afterthought came news that more US troops will be on their way here. But everyone was keen to stress there won't be any bases there will be training facilities.

GENERAL RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN OF THE IS JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: But it will not involve what they see as any US bases in Australia, that's not part of the plan.

SCOTT BURCHILL, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: Well, governments in Australia always refer to the American military bases in Pine Gap and Nurrunga and Northwest Cape as joint facilities because they didn't want to give the impression that the United States military has bases here. So there's some sensitivity about the wording of bases.

MARK DAVIS: Whether they're called bases or not, with US missile shields positioned here and more US troops in place, we may be embarking upon a very dramatic shift in our military relationship.

RON HUISKEN, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: It seems to be a message that we are one of the core players now. Whether that's a message that we should be sending I think is an open question.

MARK DAVIS: For the past two years America's proposal for a missile shield has been vigorously opposed by Russia, China and many European countries. In their opinion, the so-called shield is not a benign defence system, but a potent weapon of war and its implementation will spark off a new arms race.

JOHN HOWARD: It's something we ought to be part of and I can't understand why anybody would be against it.

DJOKO SUSILO, INDONESIAN DEFENCE MEMBER: This missile defence system is not defensive, but it is offensive.

MARK DAVIS: Djoko Susilo is a member of Indonesia's military defence and security committee and echos many of the concerns in Indonesia.

DJOKO SUSILO: This morning I already met with some leading members of other factions, from PKB, from Golkar and from major parties, they express strong concern about the military build-up in Australia now. And I think this is a wrong policy by Mr Howard.

MARK DAVIS: Strategic and defence analyst Ron Huisken keeps away from the rights and wrongs, but understands why the region may be alarmed.

RON HUISKEN: All weapon systems can be used defensively. The simplist example is that you may only have a shield as in the case of missile defence and no significant sword to speak of. But you've got one half of the equation. So countries then begin to worry what if you acquire the other half so you have a sword and a shield and then you have new options to behave aggressively.

MARK DAVIS: With Australia's renewed interest in the Pacific, and America's ongoing interest in strengthening its position in South-East Asia, new military ties are likely to considerably enhance our reputation as America's sheriff across the region. A reputation that may become an indisputable reality, according to Scott Birchall.

SCOTT BURCHILL: The United States will effectively lock us in if we integrate our military so closely and our policies so closely. It makes it very difficult in the future to take a different position from the United States on key international issues and international crisis.

MARK DAVIS: According to the Government, no firm commitments have been made, the same message that was given in the lead-up to the Iraq war.