JAKARTA, June 30: Southeast Asian foreign ministers vowed on Wednesday to strengthen their fight against terrorism but took a soft line on controversial military-ruled member Myanmar.
The ministers, in a communique after their day-long annual meeting, reiterated their "strongest condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations" and called for greater concerted efforts to eradicate it.
The ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) highlighted the group's efforts to formally co-operate with the United States, India, Russia and Australia in the fight against terrorism, but said one religion was not to blame for the problem.
"We emphasized the need to address the root causes of terrorism and rejected any attempt to associate terrorism with any religion, race, nationality or ethnic group," the communique said.
The ministers also called for a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis, for an end to "humanitarian tragedy" in the Palestinian territories and for full United Nations involvement in Iraq's transition.
In an implied criticism of the US invasion of Iraq, they described "surging unilateralism" as one of the world's challenges. On the contentious question of Myanmar, the ministers dropped their public calls made last year for the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
A paragraph - agreed after what one Philippine official described as "intense debate" - merely "underlined the need for the involvement of all strata of Myanmar society in the ongoing national convention.
"We encouraged all concerned parties in Myanmar to continue their efforts to effect a smooth transition to democracy," the communique said. Aung San Suu Kyi's party won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to rule.
Myanmar's national convention to draft a constitution, which began on May 17, has been boycotted by the democratic opposition and described as a sham by international human rights groups. However, the communique said the convention had the potential to pave the way for a new constitution and the holding of elections. The wording was much weaker than a draft statement which would have "reiterated the need for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy members."
Asked why the final statement appeared so weak, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told reporters it did not reduce "the engagement of ASEAN with regard to Myanmar."
The United States and Europe, who will join ASEAN members on Friday for a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), had been pressing the Southeast Asians to take a stronger line. A planned Asia-Europe summit in Hanoi in October is in jeopardy because of the Myanmar dispute.
Ministers declared that "Asia is fortunate because democracy is neither being imposed nor just a mindless imitation of Western systems." They also referred to ASEAN's "cardinal principle of non-interference within the spirit of the ASEAN family."
ASEAN ministers also endorsed Indonesian proposals to form an ASEAN Security Community. This calls for arrangements among members to peacefully solve conflicts or mitigate tensions that threaten regional stability, and to combat transnational crime and terrorism.
But it does not involve a military alliance or defence pact. Indonesia was forced to shelve its plans for a regional peacekeeping force. The security community, along with an economic and a socio-cultural community, is part of efforts to prepare for a European-style ASEAN Community by 2020.
Ministers welcomed apparent progress in the six-party diplomatic campaign aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear programme. The issue will be a key topic at Friday's meeting of the 23-member ARF security forum, which will be attended by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun.
Maritime and other forms of terrorism will also likely be a major topic. Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have already agreed on joint patrols in the pirate-infested Malacca Strait, through which about half the world's oil supplies pass. The United States and Singapore fear extremists could hijack a tanker and turn it into a floating bomb. -AFP
