Singapore hails security pact

Singapore hails security pact

SINGAPORE (Reuter): A senior Singapore minister was quoted by
local newspapers as saying yesterday his country regarded the
Australia-Indonesia security pact as a building block in the
process of enhancing regional peace and security.

Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan, who is also the defense
minister, was quoted by the Strait Times as saying that he had
been briefed on the framework of the agreement, signed in Jakarta
on Monday, by a special emissary from Australia.

"We have always taken the view that peace and security in the
region are best ensured by having a web of strong bilateral
relationships, complemented by overlapping multilateral security
structures and processes," he said.

Tan also said Canberra had assured Singapore that the new pact
did not detract in any way from its commitments to existing
security agreements in the region.

Currently, Singapore and Australia, together with Malaysia,
New Zealand and Britain, are involved in the Five Power Defense
Arrangement, set up in 1971.