The Hindu : Japan, ASEAN agree to strengthen cooperation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 13, 2003

International

International

Japan, ASEAN agree to strengthen cooperation

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Dec. 12. Japan and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) today agreed to adopt a policy of "strengthening political and security cooperation and partnership'' among themselves.

The security partnership, agreed upon in Tokyo at the conclusion of a two-day "commemorative summit'' between the two sides, was envisioned as an aspect of "deepening [their] cooperation'' for the purpose of building a wider "East Asian Community'' over an unspecified period. Some aspects of the new security-oriented cooperation were outlined as counter-terrorism activities, anti-piracy drive and the fight against other trans-national crimes. The mechanisms cited for such cooperation were bilateral arrangements among the countries concerned, the ASEAN Regional Forum and other fora.

The new accent on a security-related partnership between Japan and the ASEAN members is in line with the recent decision by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to widen the scope of its operations to include a similar political role. Japan and several key ASEAN countries are also members of the APEC forum.

As for the economic aspects of the latest summit, Japan and the ASEAN reaffirmed their adherence to the conventional areas of cooperation, even as Tokyo indicated its willingness to extend about $ 1.5 billions, in financial aid, towards the development of the Mekong River region over the next three years.

The idea was to help bridge the developmental gap between a few ASEAN states and their more prosperous fellow-members.

In addition, Japan announced its intention to offer more than $ 1.5 billions to all ASEAN states, as a collective entity, for their human resources development over a similar time-frame.

The Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said after the summit that the two sides agreed to "act together and advance together'', while the Indonesian President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, speaking on behalf of the ASEAN, noted that the meeting would help promote "peace and prosperity'' in East Asia.

Japan expressed its intention to accede to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, which India and China had acceded to at a regional summit in Bali last October. While the contours of the proposed East Asian community were not delineated at the summit, the diplomatic signals that the two sides sent out were indicative of an arrangement involving all the ASEAN states as also Japan, China and South Korea.

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