ARF members urged to work 'seriously' to fight terrorism
ARF members urged to work 'seriously' to fight terrorism
Ker Munthit, Associated Press, Phnom Penh
Cambodia's prime minister urged Asian and Western countries to work "seriously" to combat rising terrorist threats in Southeast Asia, a region many fear is becoming a breeding ground for Islamic militancy.
"Concern for world security ... requires us to exert our best efforts" to cooperate in the fight, Hun Sen said as he opened two days of talks by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
They will join their Asian and Western counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, at a 23-member Asian-Pacific regional security meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. Japan, China and Russia will also attend.
North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Myanmar's detention of pro- democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the SARS epidemic are high on the agenda. But the less-decisive issue, terrorism, is expected to dominate talks.
The arrest of eight suspected Islamic extremists in recent weeks in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand have highlighted security concerns in the region.
The men were accused of being members of Jamaah Islamiyah. The regional hardline Islamic network is blamed for the Oct. 12 bombings that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Four suspects were allegedly plotting attacks on embassies in Bangkok.
"I sincerely urge (you) to work seriously and intensively to forge effective responses to the potential threats to our region," Hun Sen said.
ASEAN has long followed a policy of not commenting on its members' internal affairs and the decision to discuss Suu Kyi at all reflects the growing international pressure on Myanmar's military regime to release the Nobel laureate.
"All of us in ASEAN wish Aung San Suu Kyi will be free, to be able to do what she would like to do," the ASEAN secretary- general, Ong Keng Yong, told The Associated Press on Monday.
"But we don't do it in a confrontational manner. We don't do it in a way that make people feel completely unpleasant about it."
Suu Kyi was detained on May 30 after a clash between her supporters and a pro-government crowd in northern Myanmar. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been kept incommunicado since then, triggering international outcry.
Powell last week urged Myanmar's neighbors to put pressure on its military rulers, calling them democracy-oppressing "thugs," but Ong said other important issues need to be discussed.
Powell will also try to muster support at the ASEAN Regional Forum to help defuse the standoff over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programs.
Tensions in the region have been mounting since October, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a covert nuclear program, and ASEAN ministers want assurances that war will not break out.
"A nuclear-weapons free Korea and a peaceful resolution to the current tension through dialog" is essential for peace in the region, the ASEAN foreign ministers said in a draft joint communique to be issued on Tuesday.
ASEAN had hoped North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun would attend the Phnom Penh meeting, adding weight to discussions, but the North's delegation is being led by diplomat Ho Jong, who arrived on Monday.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said the 10-member ASEAN would urge Pyongyang to return to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, "but North Korea should also feel secure that it will not face any aggression."
North Korea withdrew from the treaty and restarted its nuclear facilities after Washington suspended free oil shipments. Last week, Pyongyang threatened to develop a nuclear arsenal to deter U.S. hostility.
Though severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is on the decline, the regional grouping said it would discuss ways to contain the disease's spread. SARS has killed nearly 780 people worldwide, most of them in Asia, battering the tourist industry.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The ARF comprises ASEAN plus Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, North and South Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.