New concepts needed for regional security
New concepts needed for regional security
JAKARTA (JP): The emergence of new economic powers in Asia and the Pacific and the growth the region has enjoyed over the past years have generated not only good cooperation but have also created tensions in international relations, a seminar heard yesterday.
Indonesian and Australian political scientists and observers agreed that there need to be new concepts of security to ensure political and economic cooperation in the region, which represents nearly two-thirds of the world's population.
"Security is not only a question of military forces but also a political and economic issue," Russel Trood, director of the Australia-based Centre for the Study of Australia-Asia Relations, told participants of a seminar titled "Potential Linkages between Economic and Regional Security Fora".
The two-day seminar, jointly organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Australian Defence Studies Centre, was opened yesterday and attended by scores of government officials and political researchers from the two countries.
Noting that many threats to domestic stability stem from disruptions to established patterns of economic activity which produce social dislocations, Trood said that "the working of one market may pose threats and create instability" to others.
To overcome the problems he proposed, among other things, that countries in the region adopt the concept of "cooperative and comprehensive security" which imply "a more cautious and gradual approach to the development of new security structures".
Soedjati Djiwandono, a member of CSIS' board of directors, said, however, that there was nothing new in the proposed concept and that it had been adopted by Indonesia years ago, albeit not by that name.
Indonesia and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have preferred to use the term "national and regional resilience" rather than "comprehensive security", Soedjati said.
But other speakers at yesterday's meeting agreed that there is a need for the countries in the Asia-Pacific to adopt new strategies and concepts to cope with global changes and challenges.
Speakers from Australia stressed the need for the United States to remain engaged as a stabilizing force and the inclusion of China in ensuring wider security and prosperity in the region.
Model
Rear Admiral Sunardi from the Indonesian Ministry of Defense said that, if only the security cooperation established in ASEAN could be accepted as a model by the 18 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, there would be no suspicion from outside the region as the forum proceeds with its undertakings.
"Such regional security would not create suspicion from outside the region because it will not pose as enemy of any kind," Sunardi added.
ASEAN is a regional economic and political grouping whose members are Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Two years ago, ASEAN set up a forum for security cooperation, called the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), to discuss security issues with the United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
APEC includes all but one member of ASEAN.
Jusuf Wanandi, the chairman of CSIS supervisory board, said that APEC should move only on the economic front and not involve itself in security issues. Instead, he suggested the need for greater participation of non-governmental organizations as "an informal networking" for creating better regional relations and cooperation. (ego)
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