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.