Asean +8 take off

The Strait Times, by Lee Seok Hwai & Jermyn Chow, Jun 6, 2010

MOST, if not all countries, at the Shangri-La Dialogue back an Asean-led body that will be launched later in 2010 to tackle security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region.

This includes China, South Korea, Russia and the United States, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean told his defence counterparts, top military brass and analysts from 28 countries at the close of an annual regional defence conference on Sunday.

Japan and Australia - countries that had previously mooted their own alternatives of strengthening regional cooperation - also support Asean to be the centre of the security grouping, said Mr Teo.

Dubbed the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus 8 (ADMM+8), it will be a gathering of Asean defence ministers and their counterparts beyond the region - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.

The group will tackle security issues like terrorism, piracy, disaster relief and transnational crime. It will be launched in Hanoi in October and meet every three years subsequently.

'Various, in fact all countries I spoke to, support such a regional structure,' said Mr Teo. 'The ADMM+8 provides an inclusive yet focused configuration, bringing together, for the first time, the defence establishments of all the key players in the region.'