Australia ready to sign TAC: Foreign minister

Australia ready to sign TAC: Foreign minister

Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia

Australia is prepared to sign a Southeast Asian non-aggression pact it had previously rejected in order to join an emerging East Asia regional trade grouping, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Monday.

Downer said Australia would sign the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) treaty as long as it did not interfere with other alliances, including Canberra's military ties with the United States.

Australia had previously refused to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) which bans signatories from using violence to settle conflicts in the region, with Prime Minister John Howard calling it a Cold War relic.

But Downer said on Monday that Australia was ready to sign the pact, which ASEAN has laid down as a precondition to Howard attending an inaugural East Asia summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur in December.

"We see the East Asia summit as the birth of a growing East Asian community, so it makes good sense for the region, for Australia, to be involved," Downer told reporters.

"If the price is signing the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, we'll do that.

"If we can sign it without it in any way interfering with treaties and other arrangements we have with countries outside of the ASEAN region."

Downer said he will discuss Australia's position with ASEAN foreign ministers at a meeting in July.

"If we can satisfy ourselves about various concerns we have, then we would be prepared to sign it, particularly as signing it will ensure that Australia can participate in the East Asia summit process," he said.

During a visit to Canberra by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in April, Howard said the treaty was "delivered to the region by a mindset that we've really all moved on from" and it was inappropriate for Australia to sign.

But his position has softened considerably in recent weeks and he agreed to examine whether Australia could sign.

Canberra, a strong U.S. ally, has previously expressed concerns the non-aggression pact is designed for non-aligned countries and treats non-ASEAN countries as "second-class nations".

It also is concerned about whether signing the treaty conflicts with the decades-old ANZUS (Australia New Zealand United States) Alliance, the country's most important defense treaty.

ASEAN called for Canberra to sign the treaty in response to comments by Howard last year about the possibility of Australia launching pre-emptive strikes against terrorist bases throughout the region.

The East Asia Summit brings together ASEAN and its "Plus 3" partners China, Japan and South Korea in a grouping that is seen as a potential precursor to an EU-style East Asian Community.

New Zealand and India have also said they want to attend the summit.