Howard seeks compromise on Asian peace pact

Howard seeks compromise on Asian peace pact

Australia is likely to swallow its pride and sign a Southeast
Asian peace pact in order to secure a place at a key regional
meeting in Malaysia at the end of the year, commentators in
Canberra said on Thursday.

Analysts noted the government of Prime Minister John Howard
had softened its stance on acceding to the Treaty of Amity and
Cooperation (TAC) that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) insists is a pre-requisite for attendance at the East
Asia summit in Kuala Lumpur in December.

ASEAN, which groups Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam,
the Philippines, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia, is
in charge of the guest list for an inaugural end-of-year East
Asia Summit that would bring together ASEAN plus Japan, China,
South Korea. If agreed, India, Australia and New Zealand would
also attend the summit.

Australia stands alone in refusing to sign the TAC, which
Howard said earlier this year belonged to "a mind set that we've
really all moved on from".

At a weekend meeting, ASEAN foreign ministers decided that
summit partners all had to sign the TAC, a pact that commits
signatories to little more than some vague non-aggression ideals.

While initially hostile to the TAC, Canberra trimmed its
position after New Zealand said it would consider signing.

"We don't like the treaty as it stands, but we are going to be
talking with ASEAN about how this issue can be handled," Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer said.

Adding that he believed Australia would be invited, Downer
said: "I'm confident about that. I think there is a very good
chance that we will be".

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Phil Goff earlier this week
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Wellington would not sign
the TAC solely to get a place at the summit, but would consider
it on its merits. Goff said accession was "essentially symbolic".

Canberra's initial hostility to the TAC was founded on its
insistence that pre-emptive strikes against terrorists
threatening Australia were allowable. The TAC bars signatories
from interfering in the affairs of others.

Howard later stressed that he had in mind chaotic South
Pacific nations when referring to jurisdictions where Australia
might launch a pre-emptive strike against a terrorist cell. --
DPA