Southeast Asia united against terrorism

Southeast Asia united against terrorism

Chris Foley, Agence France-Presse, Bandar Seri Begawan

Southeast Asian nations forged a landmark anti-terrorism declaration on Tuesday, and fine-tuned a broader pact with the United States pledging total cooperation on counter-terrorism measures.

The U.S. agreement, to be signed by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday, includes a tightening of border controls and recognizes the need for a unified approach to stop the flow of terrorist-related material, money and people.

Terrorism is the dominant theme in a week of foreign minister- level talks in Brunei which are also focused on tensions on the Korean peninsula and the India-Pakistan border, multi-nation disputes in the South China Sea, and an urgent need to regain the region's economic competitiveness.

The no-nonsense approach to terrorism taken by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers underscored their concerns about global security as well as regional separatist movements.

"We recognized the need to address threats and challenges posed by issues such as separatism and terrorism," the ministers said in a joint statement.

"We are also determined to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation in line with specific circumstances in our respective countries."

The broader document to be signed with the United States as part of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), an Asia-Pacific security grouping, remained incomplete Tuesday, but officials on both sides said the differences were not significant and the thrust of the message was agreed.

It includes "the development of more effective counter- terrorism policies", and agrees to strengthen border and immigration controls, enhance intelligence sharing and clamp down on terrorist financing, according to a draft seen by AFP.

Powell told a Thai television channel en route to Brunei that even if the wording differences have not been resolved by Thursday "we will be able to join the consensus on this document".

A senior official traveling with Powell said the problem was not serious and "I expect we will have a counter-terrorism declaration while we're there."

While pledging cooperation, the document makes no provision for U.S. troop deployment in the region, which Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said was a choice for individual countries.

The ARF, which takes in ASEAN's major dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea, and nine other countries including the United States and Russia, as well as the European Union, is to issue its own anti-terrorism declaration on Wednesday.

It commits its 23 members to "freeze without delay the assets of terrorists and their associates and close their access to the international financial system", a draft copy seen by AFP said.

It will also require members to "make public the lists of terrorists whose assets are subject to freezing and the amount of assets frozen".

While the ASEAN foreign ministers were able to settle on an anti-terrorism stance, plans to produce a groundbreaking document aimed at resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea fell apart.

With ASEAN bound by a strict consensus rule, Malaysia and Vietnam clashed over the wording of the document's title, leaving the ministers with a watered-down statement saying a code of conduct would promote peace and stability in the region.

Powell, in Malaysia Tuesday, held open the possibility of talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun on the ARF sidelines.

"I'll make a judgement on that after I get to Brunei," Powell said, as tensions on the Korean peninsula appeared to ease with South Korea agreeing to a North Korean offer of talks.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi is to meet Paek Wednesday where she will raise Pyongyang's weapons development and the alleged abduction of Japanese citizens in the first ministerial talks between the countries in two years.