Regional Security Link Enhanced after September 11: Chinese FM

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 01, 2002

Regional Security Link Enhanced after September 11: Chinese FM

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With the rise of non-traditional security issues such as terrorism, countries in the region have enhanced security links and cooperation to achieve peace and development, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said Wednesday in Bandar seri Begawan.

"The past year witnessed a new development in the global security situation in which traditional and non-traditional security factors are intertwined, with the latter on the rise," hesaid at the annual meet of the foreign ministers of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Under such circumstances, Tang pointed out, security links between countries have become closer, and cooperation in international relations has visibly expanded.

"Countries are even more aware of the need for properly dealingwith globalization and striving for coexistence and win-win situation as relations among major powers have improved and developed. Generally speaking, peace and development remain the main themes of our times," the Chinese minister said.

Tang said, in his opinion, the most prominent changes the region experienced during the past year is that non-traditional security issues are gaining importance in regional security affairs and there has been a greater desire among countries for joint efforts to address these issues.

"Following the September 11 incident, many countries have carried out active bilateral and multilateral dialogue, coordination and cooperation on counter-terrorism and coordinationand cooperation among major powers in this respect are particularly noteworthy," he said.

Meanwhile, the minister said traditional hotshot issues have been on and off, and most of them are moving towards resolution, citing that East Timor has witnessed a smooth transition to statehood and the transitional government of Afghanistan was launched according to schedule.

"The trend towards relaxation on the Korean Peninsula has also been basically maintained," he said.

Moreover, Tang noted that there have been more energetic multilateral security dialogue and cooperation, notably the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which has continued to make progress in institutional building and in deepening cooperation.

In addition, the question of development has become more prominent, with the overwhelming majority of countries giving top priority to their economic recovery and growth, the Chinese minister said.

China is an active member of the ARF, the region's premier security forum which also groups 10 ASEAN members, namely, Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as Australia, Canada, European Union, India, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.

Proposal to strengthen ARF progress

Tang put forward a two-point proposal to expand dialogue and cooperation within the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) framework "more vigorously and effectively."

The Chinese foreign minister proposed making non-traditional security issues a highlight for dialogue in the ARF and enhancing the dialogue process on the basis of a new security concept with mutual trust, mutual benefit,equality and coordination at its core.

"We hope that non-traditional security issues will be a highlight for dialogue and cooperation in the ARF," Tang told his counterparts from the 10 countries of the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) and 13 other ARF members.

"Such issues are now a real threat we face and a pressing subject we must cope with. Transnational or trans-regional in nature, most of these issues are difficult for one or a few countries to deal with," he said, stressing, "Multilateral cooperation is the only way to tackle them."

Tang urged the ARF members to pay attention to the root causes of non-traditional security concerns like terrorism.

"In addressing non-traditional security issues, it is essentialto have the immediate interests in mind and also to treat both their symptoms and root causes, and make efforts to eliminate poverty and establish a new international order that is fair and rational," he stated.

Tang also proposed a new security concept with mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination at its core, which he said is "built on our common interests."

"In today's world, security threat tends to take diverse forms and go global. Economic globalization has led to the mingling of economic and security interests of countries and their closer links," he said.

"The connotation of security has expanded from the military andpolitical to economic, scientific and technological, environmental,cultural and many other fields," the Chinese Foreign Minister said.

"For this, we propose a new security concept, with the emphasison building mutual trust through dialogue, settling disputes through negotiation and seeking security through cooperation," he explained.

Tang is here attending the one-day ARF on Wednesday, and the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) on Thursday.

China lauds ARF role in regional peace, stability

The Chinese Foreign Minister said that China appreciated the important role of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in maintaining the region's peace and stability.

"The ARF, born in the post-Cold-War mid-1990s, has evolved intoa most significant forum for security dialogue in the region and for the past eight years since it was formed it kept moving forward in conducting dialogue and cooperation," he said at the annual meet of ARF foreign ministers held in the Brunei capital.

"First of all, the ARF made useful exploratory endeavors in increasing mutual understanding and confidence among its participants and stepping up regional security dialogue and cooperation," said the Chinese minister.

In this regard, he said, three key papers adopted at the forum's meet last year, including one on preventive diplomacy, gave a new impetus to future development.

Moreover, "the ARF conducted fruitful dialogue and cooperation on fighting terrorism and cracking down on transnational crimes," Tang said, citing that the forum issued a Chairman's Statement on the terrorist attacks of September 11 and held a series of seminars on the subject.

In addition, "in the course of the ARF's exploratory efforts, aset of effective modalities and principles have taken shape, such as adopting decision by consensus, making gradual progress, movingat a pace comfortable to all, and not interfering in each other's internal affairs," Tang noted.

He said the Chinese Government has always attached importance to the positive role played by the ARF in maintaining regional peace and stability, and supported the ARF in keeping the momentumof development and continuously making new progress.

"I wish to reiterate that the Chinese side supports the ARF in further exploring and developing dialogue and cooperation in non-traditional security field, including counter-terrorism, in gradually expanding the participation of defense officials in the ARF, and in continuously adhering to the existing and effective modalities and principles, with confidence building at the core," said the minister.

"China also supports ASEAN in continuing to play a leading rolewithin the ARF," he affirmed.

China is an active member of the ARF, the region's premier security forum which also groups 10 ASEAN members, namely, Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as Australia, Canada, European Union, India, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.

Wednesday's meeting is ARF's first ministerial meet after the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States and it followedthe ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and the ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea meeting (10+3) between July 29 and 30.

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