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.