ASEAN security 'not strong enough'

ASEAN security 'not strong enough'

MANILA (AFP): Increasing armed conflict in the Korean peninsula and between India and Pakistan are "too big" to handle for Asia's foremost security forum, the Philippine's foreign minister said on Sunday.

Foreign affairs secretary Domingo Siazon said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) needed more time to develop into a security alliance similar to that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) before it can immediately intervene in crises.

Clashes between India and Pakistan over Kashmir as well as the recent naval confrontation between South and North Korea are "too big" and "too advanced" for the ARF to handle "right now".

ARF, created in 1995, comprises the 10 ASEAN members and their "dialog partners" -- the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, Russia, India and South Korea. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.