War in SE Asia not possible: Malaysian deputy premier
War in SE Asia not possible: Malaysian deputy premier
HONG KONG (Agencies): China will not go to war -- except over Taiwan -- and a regional conflict in Southeast Asia is "not possible", a prominent regional politician said Monday.
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told the Asia's Future Summit here that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was now so strong that a regional war would never happen.
"(Armed conflict) is not possible," he said. "I don't think it will ever happen."
But the conference was warned that globalization would lead to a wave of Islamic extremism throughout Asia.
Former Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said poverty and disenchantment in areas which failed to catch on to important new technology would lead to a dramatic upsurge in fanaticism.
"There will be a wide spread of this extremism," Surin said. "It will certainly spread and it will affect China."
Surin said Asia would struggle to come to terms with the new world order when access to the latest technology will dictate a country's prosperity.
"We will see issues of adjustment to globalization that will have implications and spill over across the Asia region. It is a problem of disparity. We will have a lot of issues to work on in the next few years, and it will affect the business environment."
Surin was responding to Abdullah's keynote speech, in which he predicted China's emergence as the world's largest economy would be the biggest issue facing Asia in the next 25 years.
"Within the next decade or so an enormous shift is set to occur in the Asia Pacific region," Abdullah told the conference.
"China will regain its position as the world's largest economy ... India will become the third or fourth largest economy."
But Abdullah said despite its economic strength China was unlikely to overhaul the United States, whose technological, military and cultural supremacy would keep it at the top for the foreseeable future.
"America will remain number one well into the 21st century," he said.
Abdullah also predicted the re-unification of the Korea peninsula and said East Timor would be the last territory to gain independence from Indonesia.
Meanwhile in Singapore, Asian experts view the economic slowdown as the most significant threat to regional security, far greater than political differences, social instability or terrorism, a poll showed on Monday.
The Straits Times AsiaPoll queried government officials, security experts, and political and economic analysts in China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The economic downturn emerged as the most significant issue with 28 percent of the respondents identifying it as the principle threat.
It has "a direct effect on the deterioration of peace and internal stability", Philippine National Security Adviser Roilo Golez was quoted as saying.
Fourteen percent were concerned about the growing polarization of relations in the region as far as China was concerned.
Social instability, military build-up, religious extremism and terrorism followed, weighing almost equally on the minds of respondents.
Singaporeans, who rated their national security the highest, indicated they felt the least threatened in the region. They were followed by those living in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and India.
Respondents in Taiwan felt the most threatened, the findings showed.
In sub-regional categories, people said they would feel most insecure in South Asia.