Philippine minister: ASEAN must fight transnational crime
Philippine minister: ASEAN must fight transnational crime
BANGKOK (AP): Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon said on Monday that ASEAN quickly needs a task force to fight transnational crime like trafficking in drugs, arms and human beings.
Siazon proposed that the 10-nation group -- which includes the world's chief heroin-producing region in the Golden Triangle where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet -- launch its planned Center for Combating Transnational Crime within this year.
Siazon said that a speedy launch is urgently needed "if ASEAN is to gain an edge over the deleterious effects of these crimes."
Siazon spoke on the opening day of the regional ministers conference, which will discuss transnational crime for the first time in the ASEAN Regional Forum later this week.
The forum comprises the Southeast Asian countries and 13 others, including Japan, China and the United States, with security interests in Asia.
"We will need to vigilantly tackle these crimes to ensure that our peoples enjoy the security that they deserve," Siazon said.
Broadening regional cooperation beyond traditional areas like trade and investment -- for example, into cross-border concerns like drugs and terrorism -- could prove to be a thorny topic.
Military-run Myanmar, the world's second-largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, says it will do its best to combat the drug menace. But critics allege that collusion exists between traffickers and the ruling clique.
The draft communique being prepared for adoption on Tuesday said vaguely that the ministers agreed to "strengthen cooperation" in fighting transnational crime and AIDS.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said that ministers on Monday agreed to bring forward their previously-agreed target date for making ASEAN a drug-free region from 2020 to 2015.
Thailand is furious over the millions of methamphetamine tablets made in Myanmar and smuggled in over their long common border by former ethnic Wa rebels who have made peace with the military regime.
Surin said that as the forum's scope widens, it needs to look beyond traditional defense concerns "affecting regional peace and stability."
The region is awash with weapons from old wars that are sold to fighters as far away as in Sri Lanka, and is increasingly becoming a waystation for the trafficking of illegal immigrants from China into the West.
Thailand holds the current chair of ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.