ASEAN seeks stiffer counterterror measures

ASEAN seeks stiffer counterterror measures

P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse, Manila

Southeast Asian leaders at their annual talks next week are
expected to seek stiffer counter-terrorism measures and sign a
landmark pact with China to forge the world's largest free trade
area, officials said.

The 10 Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) leaders will
meet in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh on Nov. 4-5 for the first
time since the deadly Bali blast, the biggest terrorist strike
since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

The terrorism threat, with the reported presence of Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaeda-linked cells in Malaysia, Singapore, the
Philippines and Indonesia, is seen as the biggest challenge to
Southeast Asia in about 25 years.

"Today's international terrorism is probably the most serious
security threat in the region since the then Indochina conflict,"
ASEAN spokesman M. C. Abad told AFP.

The Vietnam War was followed by a long civil war in Cambodia
that provoked an invasion by Vietnamese troops in 1978 to oust a
China-backed regime. Beijing responded by a brief incursion into
northern Vietnam.

Since then, ASEAN has been preoccupied with managing inter-
state relations and conflict and not with non-traditional
security issues, such as terrorism, regional diplomats say.

"The leaders of ASEAN have taken cognizance of this threat to
regional stability and economic recovery and the imperative of
regional and international cooperation to combat it," Abad said.

The ASEAN leaders are expected "to exchange views on how to
further intensify the on-going collaboration to counter this non-
traditional security threat."

The terrorist attack on Indonesia's Bali island tourism
paradise on Oct. 12 killed more than 190 mostly foreigners and
injured hundreds more.

There are growing suspicions a regional terror group, Jamaah
Islamiyah allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda, had a hand in the
Bali carnage which dampened not only Southeast Asia's vibrant
tourism industry but also frightened off potential foreign
investors.

Investment house Morgan Stanley has warned that the Bali
incident could permanently raise the risk premium for the whole
of Southeast Asia.

There is growing doubt among international investors that the
region can contain its geopolitical and domestic socio-political
risks, given its "strong and inseparable ties to Islam," Morgan
Stanley economist Daniel Lian said in a recent report.

Muslims account for more than half of the 500 million people
in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim
nation.

ASEAN member states, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam, have already signed a regional counterterrorism pact and
have another agreement to fight the scourge with the United
States.

ASEAN spokesman Abad said while terrorism would feature highly
on the grouping's eighth summit talks, "the leaders are expected
to remain focused on the economic agenda, such as enhancing the
region's competitiveness through economic integration."

The ASEAN leaders are slated during their talks in Cambodia to
sign a pact with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji for a giant free
trade area (FTA) covering two billion people of Southeast Asia
and China.

The ASEAN summit talks is traditionally followed by a meeting
with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea. This year,
India will make its debut with participation from Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Details of the ASEAN-China FTA plan would be incorporated in a
so-called "framework agreement on ASEAN-China Economic
Cooperation," regional diplomats said.

"Under this agreement, we hope to commence negotiations for
tariff reduction and elimination for goods in early 2003 to be
concluded in about a year," a senior diplomat told AFP.

He said the objective was for China to have a free trade area
with ASEAN's senior member states Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand by between 2010 and 2013
and the newer states Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam by
between 2013 and 2016.

The ASEAN leaders are also expected to sign with China a
hotly-debated declaration to resolve disputes in the South China
Sea.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam as well as China
and Taiwan have laid claims to the Spratly islands, a potential
military flashpoint in the South China Sea.