Crisis may affect regional security

Crisis may affect regional security

SYDNEY (Reuters): Asia's economic crisis could slow the
region's arms build up and undermine regional security,
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.

"The economic crisis may affect the pace of modernization of
defense capabilities in the region," Downer told a security
conference grouping countries from the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their main allies.

The financial turmoil gripping most Asian countries would slow
growth for up to three years, hitting recent regional efforts to
build military power, Downer said.

"The outlook in particular countries depends on the speed with
which governments implement economic reforms," he told the
meeting of more than 100 senior foreign affairs and defense
officials from the ASEAN Regional Forum.

"Nonetheless, it is clear that significant stresses in East
Asia are going to continue over the short to medium term.

"The stresses will have an impact on the political and social
developments across the region, with potential flow-on effects in
the short term at least for stability and security, depending on
events in particular countries."

The three-day security meeting, which ends on Friday, was
called before the recent Asian financial crisis to discuss ways
of boosting stability in a region marked by rival territorial
claims, ethnic tensions and an increasingly powerful China.

The officials will discuss arms control, peacekeeping,
regional defense training, preventive diplomacy and maritime
security issues such as piracy.

The group will then submit its recommendations to the ASEAN
Regional Form foreign ministers meeting in Manila in July.

A senior Australian foreign affairs official said the security
fallout from the Asian economic crisis was not officially on the
agenda, but would be discussed.