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.