Southeast Asia to discuss defense

Southeast Asia to discuss defense

HANOI (Reuter): Thai Defense Minister, Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, said yesterday that Thailand and Vietnam would discuss proposals for a NATO-style regional defense bloc with other countries at a military conference this March.

Chavalit told a news conference in Hanoi that Southeast Asia needed a defense grouping to promote stability. "We would like to discuss measures or an organization to solve all disputes in the region," he said.

"Of course we don't expect any disputes in the region but if there are, we should have an organization to solve them. An example for that is NATO, in Europe, which is the organization to solve all such kind of disputes or disagreements," he added.

Chavalit, on a two-day visit to Vietnam, said Southeast Asian states would be represented at the meeting in Thailand, along with countries who are members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), officially billed as a multilateral consultative forum promoting security in the Asia-Pacific Region.