The Hindu : `India-ASEAN dialogue beneficial'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 08, 2002

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`India-ASEAN dialogue beneficial'

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Aug. 7. A deepening of the dialogue between India and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will have a "positive impact" on the environment for political and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Stressing this point in the Fourteenth India-ASEAN Eminent Persons Lecture, the former Indonesian Foreign Minister, Ali Alatas, said here today that all nations in the Asia-Pacific would benefit from such an eventuality. ``That will be good for India and the ASEAN, for the region and for a world caught up in rapid and fundamental change.''

The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant, presided over the lecture. The former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, was also present.

India, Dr. Alatas said, had an important role in the political, economic and social development of the ASEAN. "There are, of course, reciprocal benefits if India plays that role to the full extent, not the least of which are the profits of trade and returns on investments".

Dr. Alatas, who was Indonesia's Foreign Minister from 1988 to 1999, said there were several opportunities and entry points for cooperation between India and the ASEAN on countering terrorism.

Stating that the ASEAN had begun to move on the issue of terrorism after the September 11 attacks on the U.S., Dr. Alatas said that its earlier move had been slow and tentative even with regard to the issue of piracy in the Malacca Straits.

Referring to the anti-terrorist declaration issued in 2001 and a subsequent work plan issued by the ASEAN, he said there were a number of activities that India could take up with the ASEAN. The most obvious was exchange of information that may help each side in its own efforts to combat terrorism and other forms of transnational crime. ``We must not forget, however, that terrorism cannot be overcome in the long term if its root causes are not effectively addressed. And there is no doubt and no denying that abject poverty and glaring inequality have a great deal to do with the sense of injustice and alienation, the anger and the irrational hatred that leads to acts of terrorism,'' he said.

In recent years, he said, the most severe blow to the security and political stability of South-East Asia was neither a war nor a terrorist attack but a financial and economic debacle.

`And this brings me to the main point of my discussion: in a world that is globalised and multipolar, where a welter of non-governmental actors are active, where persistent socio-political issues must always be taken into consideration, where notions of security are constantly evolving, and international terrorism threatens every nation's security — there is much that India and the ASEAN can do together and for each other,'' he said.

In the economic field, he said, India could be connected with the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) through trade facilitation arrangements. "Trade between India and the ASEAN has plenty of room for expansion... indeed, the ASEAN countries can serve as forward posts for India's trade and investment initiatives towards North-East Asia and the South-West Pacific...''

Dr. Alatas also drew attention to the genuine concern of developing countries at the implications of "humanitarian intervention" practised by some in the developed world.

He said there could be no denying the fact that if humanitarian intervention or protection was to be accepted as a new norm in international relations it should always be based on the principles of universal applicability or non-discrimination. "It must be justly and consistently applied, irrespective of which country or group of countries would be affected.''

He said these issues needed a thorough debate in the U.N. General Assembly and the Security Council to ``arrive at a global consensus on the criteria and principles, the mandates and guidelines as well as the specific conditions under which such humanitarian intervention could take place''.

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