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.