CNSNews, November 05, 2001
ASEAN Rejects Call For Halt To Afghanistan Bombing
By Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
Pacific Rim (CNSNews.com) - For the second time in less than three weeks, an
Asian gathering has denounced the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the U.S, while
avoiding any reference to the war in Afghanistan because of the unease of Muslim
participants.
Members of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) met in Brunei with their
northern neighbors from China, Japan and South Korea. In a declaration, they
condemned the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., rejecting attempts to link terrorism with
"any religion and race."
But, as was the case at the larger Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
gathering in Shanghai last month, opposition by Indonesia and Malaysia to the
bombing of Afghanistan scuttled any possibility of ASEAN including in its statement
explicit support for the campaign against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, blamed
by the Americans for the Sept. 11 attacks.
Malaysia had urged the inclusion in the ASEAN declaration of a call for the U.S.-led
bombing campaign in Afghanistan to end, but ran into opposition from the Philippines
- an important regional U.S. ally - and Singapore.
Having failed in the attempt Sunday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar
said his country's prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, would try again when the
summit reconvenes Monday.
He criticized the fact that the Afghanistan campaign had failed to catch the culprits for
the terrorist attacks, but was costing innocent civilians' lives.
Although both Malaysia and Indonesia say they appreciate the need for a world-wide
campaign against terrorism, with an eye to their own agitated populations and the
approach of the fast month of Ramadan, they have called for the bombing to end.
The ASEAN declaration against terrorism, expected to be a highlight of the two-day
summit, seeks to lay the groundwork for joint cooperation and concerted efforts to
counter terrorism.
Three members of ASEAN, the Philippines as well as Indonesia and Malaysia, have
already been identified by U.S. officials as hubs for terrorism associated with the
Islamist network linked to bin Laden.
All three are home to militant organizations, and are fighting them to varying degrees.
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has taken a firm stance against
the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the southern Philippines, with U.S. assistance, was the
driving force behind attempts to formulate a regional anti-terrorism agreement. It was
the Philippines who put together the first draft of the declaration on terrorism.
Because ASEAN operates on the principle of consensus, the declaration will avoid
any mention of Afghanistan and not name bin Laden in its condemnation of the
attacks in the U.S.
Arroyo conceded last week that different countries had their own concerns. "All the
ASEAN countries are in this fight against terrorism," she said. "Of course each one
gives its contribution in accordance with its own specific constraints at home."
Despite calls for regional strategies and teamwork in areas such as intelligence
sharing, it remains to be seen how much practical cooperation arises out of the
summit and declaration.
Acknowledging concerns about all talk and no action, Thai lawmaker Kobsak Chutikul
in a recent address called for southeast Asia to be made a "terrorism-free zone."
"The easy option [at the ASEAN summit] would be to waffle and hope everything
blows away soon so that the region can settle back to coping with the isolated
bombings, kidnappings and hijackings that occur from time to time," he said.
But he noted that the region had "inherent vulnerabilities" and could easily find itself at
the center of the terrorism storm.
Chutikul called for strengthened legal instruments, police and legal cooperation,
intelligence exchange, and coordinated plans to protect critical sectors like air
transport and communications.
The summit, he said, was a "defining moment" for ASEAN governments.
One criticism leveled at ASEAN over the years has been its determination to maintain
its original creed of non-intervention in each others' affairs. It has thus stood aside
during serious crises involving members, including the military's refusal to hand over
power after elections in Myanmar in 1990, the violence in East Timor in 1999, and the
Christian-Muslim ethnic civil war in Indonesia's Maluku province.
With its economic clout diminished in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis,
ASEAN is seen by many as a lame duck, though it represents nations that are home
to 500 million people.
The Brunei summit will also look at ways of countering an economic slowdown, and
the 10 members will hold talks with the leaders of their powerful East Asian
neighbors, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
The members of ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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