ASEAN told to unite to face Islamic extremism, China's power

ASEAN told to unite to face Islamic extremism, China's power

Bernice Han, Agence France-Presse, Singapore

China's emergence as a global power and rising Islamic extremism
are the twin challenges facing Southeast Asia's future as a
regional bloc, Singapore Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo
said on Monday.

"Global terrorism is one major challenge uniting us in ASEAN,"
Yeo said in a luncheon speech organized by the American Chamber
of Commerce here.

"The other major challenge is the rise of China," he said,
pointing out the Chinese economy is attracting 40-50 billion US
dollars worth of investments yearly while inflows into Southeast
Asia "have been languishing."

"This is forcing us to take a hard look at our own
competitiveness," Yeo told the gathering.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
has no alternative but to speed up efforts in forging closer
intra-regional trade ties or it would be unable to compete
against China, Yeo said.

"ASEAN countries now have no choice but to work towards
closer regional economic integration," Yeo said.

"Without the free movement of goods, services and investments
in Southeast Asia, we will lose out to China in many sectors
because China is by itself a free trade area of 1.2 billion
people," he said.

"If, however, we are able to make Southeast Asia a common
economic space, with the strengths that we have, we can hold our
own against China, stake out our own areas and benefit from
China's prosperity," Yeo said.

Even as ASEAN seeks to forge closer ties with China through a
proposed free trade pact and latch a ride on the world's most
populous nation ascendancy, Yeo said the region must still
maintain ties with other major countries.

"As we do not wish to be in a tributary relationship to China,
ASEAN's most sensible strategy is to move closer to Japan, the
U.S., India, Europe and Australia, even as we move closer to
China," he said.

"We are therefore seeing a healthy competitive dynamic where
ASEAN seeks closer economic relations with everyone, and everyone
wants ASEAN as a friend," Yeo said.

Turning to terrorism, Yeo said "this is a complex problem"
which ASEAN must deal with effectively if the region is to remain
prosperous.

How Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population
and the biggest ASEAN member, deal with terrorist-related
activities at home will hold the key to the region's future
prosperity, he said.

"If Indonesia takes comprehensive measures to root out
extremism in the archipelago, the economy will recover and the
prospects for Southeast Asia will brighten considerably," Yeo
said.

In this respect, it was important that major countries like
the U.S., Japan, Europe, China and Australia support Indonesian
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Southeast Asia has been tagged as a second front in the global
war against terrorism.

"Our common objective in ASEAN must be to make the entire
region inhospitable to global terrorists by denying them of safe
havens, and to do this in concert with actions taken elsewhere in
the world," Yeo said.