Australia launches damage-control push after Howard's comments<\/p>\n
Agencies, Canberra\/Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
The government on Wednesday called together senior diplomats from
\nSoutheast Asian nations for a meeting in Canberra aimed at
\ncooling fears Australia is planning preemptive anti-terror
\nattacks in the region.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister John Howard set off a diplomatic storm on
\nSunday by saying he would be prepared to launch such strikes to
\nprevent a terrorist attack on Australia.<\/p>\n
Downer said he used Wednesday's damage-control meeting to
\nexplain the comments.<\/p>\n
"There has been a certain amount of criticism coming from some
\npoliticians in the region and naturally enough we have an
\nobligation to deal with that and make the position a little
\nclearer than it has been," Downer said on Australian Broadcasting
\nCorp. television.<\/p>\n
He said the diplomats who attended the meeting were Canberra-
\nbased, but did not identify them or which countries they came
\nfrom.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Malaysia threatened to break off
\ncounterterrorism cooperation with Australia unless Howard stopped
\nbehaving like "the white-man sheriff in some black country."<\/p>\n
Malaysia and Indonesia have said that they would view
\nunilateral strikes as an act of war and aggression, while the
\nPhilippines said that Australia will be seen as wanting to
\ndominate the region.<\/p>\n
"Their government attitude is not welcome," said Mahathir, who
\nhas long viewed Australia as an unwelcome agent of the United
\nStates in the region.<\/p>\n
"We are cooperating as much as we can today in the fight
\nagainst terrorism," Mahathir said. "But if they are going to
\nblame us, we would have to rethink about cooperating with them."<\/p>\n
Australia and Malaysia signed an anti-terrorism agreement in
\nAugust which provides for increased sharing of intelligence.<\/p>\n
The pact was inked in Kuala Lumpur by Australian Foreign
\nMinister Alexander Downer and his Malaysian counterpart, Syed
\nHamid Albar, who said it was testimony to a common desire
\ncooperate in eliminating international terrorism.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has detained more than 70 alleged Islamic militants
\nsince mid-2001, many of them members of the Jamaah Islamiyah
\ngroup suspected of involvement in last month's Bali bomb attack
\nin which almost half of the more than 190 victims were
\nAustralian.<\/p>\n
The two countries are also members of a multilateral pact
\ncalled the Five Power Defense Arrangement (FPDA), along with
\nSingapore, Britain and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Malaysia's Defense Minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday that
\nthe pact was not threatened by the row, adding that he believed
\nAustralia would not launch any strikes in Malaysia without the
\ngovernment's permission.<\/p>\n
"I believe the United States and Australian governments
\nunderstand our stance on the matter, and will not do anything
\nwithout our agreement," he said.<\/p>\n
U.S. President George W. Bush has expressed his support for
\nHoward's statement on the right to preemptive strikes.<\/p>\n
Several other countries in Southeast Asia have also condemned
\nHoward's comments, saying Australia must respect other nations'
\nsovereignty.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Downer tried unsuccessfully to calm fears.<\/p>\n
"First of all, the prime minister did not suggest as some of
\nthe media in Southeast Asia are saying he suggested, that
\nAustralia was going off on bombing raids or sending troops into
\nSoutheast Asia," Downer said. "He made no such comment at all."<\/p>\n
But Downer also refused to back away from Howard's stance,
\nwhich has the backing of the United States, that he could use
\n"all available means" to stamp out a terrorist threat to
\nAustralia, even if the terrorists were based in another country.<\/p>\n
"In those circumstances no prime minister would say that they
\nwould willfully allow an attack on their people, and for their
\npeople to be killed without him or her doing everything possible
\nto try to stop it," Downer said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australia-launches-damage-control-push-after-howards-comments-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}