Posted on 11/28/2004 3:24:56 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
Prime Minister John Howard arrives in Laos today ahead of an historic meeting with Asian leaders aimed at kick-starting free trade talks with the region, but amid a growing row over a security pact.
Vientiane is hosting the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders' summit and Mr Howard's visit marks the first time an Australian leader has been invited.
Mr Howard hopes ASEAN will agree to a permanent yearly meeting between Australia and ASEAN, while the leaders will also agree to begin talks on a free trade pact with the region, locking Australia and New Zealand into a market of more than 500 million people.
But regional foreign ministers have also asked their leaders to pressure Mr Howard to sign up to a regional non-aggression pact to dispel concern about Australian threats to carry out pre-emptive strikes on terror bases and purchase long-range cruise missiles.
Mr Howard said yesterday he would not agree to sign ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), which bars member nations from meddling in each other's internal affairs.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it was unimaginable Australia could ever be a threat to the region.
A senior Australian official said the issue was not formally listed for discussion between the leaders tomorrow, although some may choose to raise it in what would be a free-flowing discussion on ASEAN's relationship with Australia and New Zealand.
"There's about a dozen items and the TAC is not on that list," the official said.
He said the issue would not prove crucial to whether Australia was invited back to ASEAN next year - something both Australia and New Zealand are aiming for.
"Conditionality has not been raised," the official said.
The main issue with ASEAN in the summit leadup had been ironing out some minor issues with the free trade negotiations, which will get underway next year.
Mr Howard will stay with other leaders at a purpose-built villa complex outside Vientiane.
Laos, one of the world's last communist states, is under heavy security for the summit and ordinary people have been ordered to stay clear of the capital.
Mr Howard will attend an official dinner with the other leaders after he arrives tonight.
Australia will not be forced into signing a "treaty" which leaves its people vulnerable to attack.
FR Lexicon·Posting Guidelines·Excerpt, or Link only?·Ultimate Sidebar Management·Headlines
PDF to HTML translation·Translation page·Wayback Machine·My Links·FreeMail Me
Gods, Graves, Glyphs topic·and group·Books, Magazines, Movies, Music
Even better would be a new international organization to replace the United Nations.
This new grouping would be comprised of member states who value freedom and are prepared to take action when necessary to protect it.
Obviously, the United States and Australia would be founding members.
It's not NAFTA, but a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States comes into effect on the 1st of January 2005.
Oh yeah, forgot. Sorry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.