Military information to be shared

Military information to be shared

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines has expressed willingness to share non-classified military information with other nations in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Foreign Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino said here yesterday.

Severino said such an exchange of 'white papers' was part of the confidence-building measures proposed at an informal ARF seminar in Canberra earlier this month.

However he admitted "there are still countries which are nervous," about such exchanges. "I don't know why," he said.

He did not say when the Philippines would begin swapping such defense data or which countries it would have such exchanges with.

ARF is a consultative body made up of ASEAN, China, Canada, Japan, the United States, the European Union (EU), Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Papua New Guinea.