SE Asia militaries cooperate on terror

SE Asia militaries cooperate on terror

THE PHILIPPINES: Senior military officials from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on Friday to step up cooperation to fight terrorism and other emerging security threats, such as the spread of bird flu.

Seven of the 10 heads of ASEAN defense forces exchanged data and experiences in dealing with regional security threats during the two-day annual meeting, said the Philippine military's chief of staff, Gen. Generoso Senga.

"We must have faster and easier coordination especially for matters that needed quick response," he told reporters after the region's military chiefs signed an agreement to strengthen and widen cooperation in dealing with regional security problems.

Copies of the agreement were not circulated and the sessions at a Manila hotel were closed to news media.

Among the security issues raised during the meeting were terrorism, internal conflicts, overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea and non-traditional military threats such as, drugs and human trafficking, piracy, disasters and bird flu.

Senga said ASEAN military chiefs consider bird flu as serious a threat as cross-border terrorism, noting that cooperation in this field has brought successes, like the killing of a senior Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) bombmaker in Indonesia.

Southeast Asia has been a major target for Muslim militants, including the al-Qaeda-linked regional JI network who are blamed for deadly bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines. -- Reuters