Southeast Asia-U.S. ink anti-terror pact
Southeast Asia-U.S. ink anti-terror pact
Brian Rhoads
Reuters
Bandar Seri Begawan
Southeast Asia nations signed an anti-terror pact on Thursday
with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell ahead of his visit to
Indonesia, seen as the weak link in the region's war on
terrorism.
Foreign ministers from the 10 Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and the United States pledged to share
intelligence, block terrorist funds, tighten borders and make it
tougher to use forged travel papers.
ASEAN and the United States view "acts of terrorism in all its
forms and manifestations...as a profound threat to international
peace and security, which require concerted action to protect and
defend all peoples and the peace and security of the world," the
declaration said.
Powell welcomed the pact, saying it would bring Southeast Asia
and the United States closer in their bid to counter terrorist
networks, but he said it would not open the door to increased
U.S. troop levels in Asia.
"It's a political declaration that brings ASEAN and the United
States together in a more intimate relationship," he said.
"But I don't anticipate this declaration is a basis for any
increased U.S. military presence in the region," he said. The
United States already has 100,000 troops in Asia-Pacific.
"We are not looking for new bases or new places to send our
U.S. troops," he said.
The signing ended a week of meetings for ASEAN, keen to dispel
perceptions Southeast Asia is a hotbed of terrorism.
Powell, who was scheduled to head to Jakarta later on
Thursday, said earlier this week he was carrying ideas and
initiatives to help President Megawati Soekarnoputri fight
militancy at home.
Some Southeast Asian nations have raised concerns Indonesia,
the world's most populous Muslim nation of 210 million people, is
not doing enough to root out militants in its vast archipelago.
But diplomats say Indonesia is doing more than it appears, and
U.S. President George W. Bush has called Megawati to thank her
for her efforts in the war on terror.
"I expect to discuss military to military cooperation with the
Indonesians tomorrow," Powell said.
The United States cut military ties with Jakarta, including
training officers and arms sales, in 1999 when the Indonesian
military was implicated in violence in East Timor the territory
voted for independence.
The government has to contend with militant groups like Laskar
Jihad, which is mainly active in the strife torn Maluku islands
where a bomb wounded more than 50 people on Saturday.
Malaysian and Philippine security officials feel Indonesia is
the weak link in a three-way pact to fight terrorism they sealed
earlier this year.
Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore have arrested several
members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional militant group which
their intelligence agencies say has ties with Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States. Indonesia has not made any arrests of Jemaah Islamiyah
members.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said months of
cooperation already under way had shown a clear threat emerging
from groups possibly linked to the al-Qaeda network.
"The more this has been investigated, the more concerned we've
become about organizations like Jemaah Islamiyah," he said in
Brunei.
The highlight at ASEAN was Powell's informal chat with his
North Korean counterpart on Wednesday, the highest level contact
between Washington and Pyongyang since Bush took office in 2001.
Bush put the brakes on tentative U.S. moves towards detente
with North Korea and in his State of the Union address in January
declared the communist state part of an "axis of evil".
North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun said on Thursday
the two sides had agreed to reopen a dialog and Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly would visit the North.
Powell told a news conference he would confer with President
Bush before deciding the next step.
After Indonesia, Powell is scheduled to visit the Philippines
on leave for Washington on Saturday.