Japan calls for expansion of ASEAN security group

Japan calls for expansion of ASEAN security group

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Asia-Pacific's main umbrella security grouping, the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF), needs to be expanded to meet the increasing
threats facing the region, a senior Japanese defense official
said on Sunday.

Minister of State for Defense and head of the Japan Defense
Agency, Gen. Nakatani said ARF needed to assume a wider role now
countries in the region were working together to tackle security
issues.

"With increased globalization and interdependence among
countries, nations are being forced to deal with security issues
in a regional context rather than as a concern for individual
countries." Nakatani told an Asia security forum here.

"Therefore, there is an increased necessity to structure a
multilateral security framework participated in by the defense
authorities of each country which are directly involved in and
responsible for maintaining peace and stability in the region,"
he said.

The role of the 23-member ARF remains too restrictive for
members to take a pro-active approach toward threats facing the
region, Nakatani said.

"At the moment we have the ASEAN Regional Forum as a
multilateral framework in this region. However, ARF still remains
a place for dialogs, and the role of the defense authorities has
been limited," he said.

The annual ARF meetings, to discuss pressing regional security
and political concerns, involve foreign ministers and not defense
delegates.

"From such respect, I think we must either expand ARF or take
a step forward using ARF as a springboard."

Established in 1994, ARF includes the 10 Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states, as well as Australia,
Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New
Zealand, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea and
the United States.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Outside the foreign ministers meeting, ARF members hold talks
among their military chiefs, compare notes on defense
expenditures and keep each other informed on military exercises.

The ARF is different from European-style multilateral
institutions. It is non-legalistic and avoids binding and
intrusive approaches to security cooperation.

Nakatani proposed that a framework for dialogs be established
so that "the defense policies of the individual countries, as
well as arms control and disarmament issues" could be discussed.