ASEAN officials deliberate on security issue

ASEAN officials deliberate on security issue

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Senior officials of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met this week to prepare some of
the main events on their agenda, including establishing a deputy
secretary general post and discussions on regional security.

The two-day meeting, which began on Monday, discussed the
preparations for an upcoming seminar on Confidence Building
Measures in Tokyo on Jan 18-19 and other practical
implementations of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

"Indonesia will present a paper in Tokyo and suggest possible
steps which could be taken by the ARF which generally reflect the
views of ASEAN," said Izhar Ibrahim, who represented Indonesia in
this week's meeting here.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

He added that the seminar in Tokyo will discuss what concrete
steps ARF member states can take to enhance security and
stability in the region.

Separately, informed sources told The Jakarta Post yesterday
that proposals to increase confidence building measures include a
dialog on security perceptions.

This is meant to foster the understanding of each state's
respective perceived security situations and thus alleviate the
mutual suspicion that has often characterized past relations.

Another measure is transparency through the publication of
their respective defense white papers.

The proposal also called on greater contacts on defense
matters and suggestions that all ARF members develop a standard
exercise procedure which can be collectively used.

When asked about Washington's rejection of the treaty of the
Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, Izhar said that it had
been decided that Indonesia would be tasked with further
explaining it to Washington.

ASEAN leaders, along with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar signed
the treaty last month in Bangkok which declares the region free
of nuclear weapons. Washington however has said that the treaty
is "too restrictive" and refuses to sign it.

Izhar yesterday refused to describe Washington's stance as a
rejection, saying that they merely had a few concerns towards it.

"We feel that there is no need for them to be concerned, and
that is why we will explain it to them," he said.

He added that among the concerns was the fact that ASEAN
includes the Exclusive Economic Zones in the nuclear free zone.

Izhar said he had planned to explain the position to American
officials at an ASEAN-U.S. dialog which was originally planned to
be held here today. The meeting was canceled because the American
delegation had been prevented from leaving by the blizzard.

"If there had been a dialog, then it would have been a good
opportunity to explain it to them. But since it was postponed,
we'll find a another good time to explain it to U.S. side," Izhar
said.

Due to the increasing workload, the ASEAN senior officials
meeting also carefully deliberated the possibility of creating
the post of deputy secretary general at the ASEAN secretariat.

"We have agreed to hold further consultations" Izhar said.

He explained that with the addition of Vietnam as the
Association's seventh member last year, and the addition of India
as a new dialog partner the secretariat's activities were
increasing.

For that reason it is felt that it might be necessary for the
secretary general to have a deputy to help him carry out those
duties, Izhar explained. (mds)