ASEAN, US Sign Joint Anti-terror Declaration

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

ASEAN, US Sign Joint Anti-terror Declaration

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Southeast Asian nations and the United States signed an accord Thursday in Bandar seri Begawan pledging closer cooperation in combating international terrorism through the exchange and flow of information, intelligence and capacity-building.

The joint anti-terror declaration was inked by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Brunei Foreign Minister Mahamed Bolkiah at the end of an annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)ministerial meetings. Brunei is the current rotating chair of ASEAN.

The declaration says ASEAN and the US viewed "acts of terrorismin all its forms and manifestations, committed wherever, whenever and by whomsoever, as a profound threat to international peace andsecurity, which requires concerted action to protect and defend all peoples and the peace and security of the world."

The declaration keeps a paragraph the US side was initially unwilling to accept -- "Recognizing the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity and non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other states."

The paragraph was added in the document at the request of Indonesia and Vietnam, which feared such an anti-terror accord with the US could lead to the basing of the US troops in SoutheastAsia.

"The participants reaffirm the importance of having a frameworkfor cooperation to prevent, disrupt and combat international terrorism through the exchange and flow of information, intelligence and capacity-building," the declaration says.

ASEAN and the U.S. promised to continue and improve intelligence and terrorist financing information sharing on counter-terrorism measures.

The two sides also agreed to enhance liaison relationships among their law enforcement agencies and tighten transportation, border and immigration control.

The accord was a major achievement of Powell during his ongoingwhirlwind eight-nation Asia tour, which has already taken him to Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He will leave for Indonesia Thursday night and then travel on to the Philippines.

ASEAN countries have already cooperated closely with the UnitedStates in fighting terrorism after the September 11 terror attacks.In the Philippines, US troops were invited in to help train government forces fight Abu Sayyaf extremists. In Malaysia and Singapore, cells of extremists linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist ring were smashed.

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