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