China's Wen calls for "new security concept" for Asia at Boao

China's Wen calls for "new security concept" for Asia at Boao
forum

Robert J. Saiget
Agence France-Presse
Beijing

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and other Asian leaders called on
Sunday for stronger efforts to promote regional economic growth,
although they offered differing views over the region's security
priorities.

Wen told the opening day of the second annual Boao Asian
economic forum that closer economic integration in Asia should
lead to a "new security concept" to counter an "unfair and
inequitable old international political and economic order".

However, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong warned that
better Asian integration should not come at the expense of weaker
global ties.

Wen told the two-day conference of some 1,200 government and
business leaders and academics on southern China's tropical
Hainan Island that peace and development were the most important
issues. He cautioned, however, that impediments to regional peace
still exist.

"Traditional and non-traditional threats are interwoven and
make the security situation a lot more complicated. The unfair
and inequitable old international political and economic order
remains largely intact," Wen said in a speech carried by China
Central Television.

"We should proceed from the larger interests of Asia's
development, cultivate a new security concept featuring mutual
trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation," he said.

Singapore's Goh warned that with the sudden explosion of free
trade zones, both bilateral and regional, there was a danger of
dividing the world into "Orwellian" trading blocs. George
Orwell's novel 1984 portrays a world divided into three warring
blocs.

"As Asia deepens regional integration, we must not turn
inwards and keep others out," Goh said.

"Economics aside, a world divided into blocs will invite
severe geo-political and security repercussions. Political
tensions will rise as each region competes for scarce resources
like oil. Conflicts may result."

Asia should not forget the economic ties to the United States
and the European Union (EU) that had largely spurred dynamic
growth in the region, he said.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf lamented that security
concerns in South and Central Asia were hindering economic
integration.

Musharraf said his country had high hopes of stronger
integration with the Asian economy, but troubles on his borders
were proving to be a hindrance.

"It is an urgent task to enhance comprehensive and integrated
development, build complementarity, reinforce Asian values, abate
tensions and seek for peaceful resolution to political disputes
in Asia," Musharraf told the conference.

Politics and economics cannot be separated, he said, citing
the need to seek political solutions for global terrorism, the
issues of Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea and the Indo-Pakistani
dispute in Kashmir.

Pakistan was committed to developing regional growth through
organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) and the Economic Cooperation Organization of
Central and West Asian Countries, but regional tensions were
hampering cooperation, he said.

Also attending the forum were Tajikistan President Emomali
Rakhmonov, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, Macau Chief
Executive Edmund Ho and the vice premiers of Vietnam, Laos and
Turkmenistan.

China has hoped to make the Boao Forum, named after the Hainan
city where the talks are held, an Asian version of the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It brings together decision
makers and opinion leaders from government, business and
academia.

However, the first meeting, in April last year, was widely
criticized for poor preparation and accompanying logistical
chaos.