Except perhaps for the frantic moment when heavy winds whipped one leader’s red carpet into the air, the arrival of all the other top Asian leaders went smoothly, as regional heads arrived over the weekend for three days of summit talks.
Leaders from each of the Asean countries as well as Japan, China, South Korea, India and South Africa will attend annual summits here that have taken on an even greater importance following the bombings last month on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
For the next two days, top leaders will meet to discuss topics including regional terrorism, tourism and economic cooperation. The talks come as Southeast Asia is simultaneously rising up from a devastating economic crisis and emerging as a hotspot in the global war on terror.
Links to the al-Qaida terrorist organization were found behind the deadly Bali blasts, and the Abu Sayyaf still threatens security in the Philippines. One of the key planning meetings ahead of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US took place in Malaysia.
Security in Phnom Penh has been systematically tightened, and police, military, media and other government officials have been frantically working to create a safe environment for the Greater Mekong Subregion and Asean summits, which will include talks with Japan, China, South Korea and India.
As military police stand guard outside of the summit meetings, terrorism has emerged as a main topic to be discussed inside.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that Thailand will join with Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in forming a security alliance separate from another joint anti-terrorism declaration that members of the 10-nation regional grouping are expected to sign this week.
The alliance aims to establish and standardize search-and-rescue operations, create information hotlines, share airline passenger lists, strengthen border controls and conduct joint counter-terrorism exercises, the AP reported.
“We will collaborate with other Asean members in terms of intelligence exchange and anything else we can do, we will do what we can to help each other,” Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters Sunday.
The collaboration aims to prevent terrorists from using countries in the region as a base from which to prepare or launch terrorist activity there or elsewhere, he said.
A draft declaration on terrorism from Asean leaders released Sunday night condemned the recent “heinous” attacks in Bali and the Philippines.
“We denounce once again the use of terror, with its toll on human life and society…. We deplore the tendency in some quarters to identify terrorism with particular religious or ethnic groups,” the declaration said.
The leaders also called on the world “to avoid indiscriminately advising their citizens to refrain from visiting or otherwise dealing with our countries, in the absence of evidence to substantiate rumors of possible terrorist attacks.”
Aside from terrorism, the Asean Summit carries a hectic agenda that includes agreements on agriculture, tourism, and—especially—a code of conduct over the South China Sea.
Officials announced on Friday that an agreement finally had been reached with each of the Asean nations and approved by China in late-evening talks Friday.
The negotiations were chaired by Chem Widhya, permanent secretary of Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who called the agreement a major achievement.
Leaders are expected to sign off today on the agreement, which calls for each of the signatories to avoid activities that could lead to violence in the South China Sea, which includes the contentious Spratly Islands. Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan lay claim to the islands.
Leaders are also scheduled to sign an Asean tourism agreement aimed at boosting the region as an international tourism destination. The signing of the agreement had been planned well before the summit, but Cambodian and regional leaders have said it will be cast in a new light after the Oct 12 bombings on Bali, the crown jewel of Southeast Asian vacation sites.
Since the bombings, tourism has not only dropped off in Indonesia, but throughout the region, leaders have said in recent weeks.
Also today, Leaders will sign an agreement between Asean and China that will “pave the way toward a free-trade area within a decade,” the Asean secretariat said in a statement. China’s growing economic power and its accession into the World Trade Organization has given Southeast Asian countries a strong impetus to either forge closer ties with China or find ways to compete with its population of 1.6 billion consumers, massive raw material base and cheap labor force.
Chinese and Asean leaders are also slated to discuss further increasing security measures “to safeguard the region against terrorism,” the secretariat said. China will sign a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation, and Japan and Asean are expected to adopt a declaration on closer economic ties.
Security was tight at the Hotel Inter-Continental as delegates arrived for an afternoon meeting. Roads have been blocked off around the hotel and hundreds of police, military police and plainclothes bodyguards deployed as part of strict security precautions.
Hundreds of local and foreign journalists buzzed between photo opportunities and news conferences as the summit got under way, but confusion reigned in the official Asean Summit media center over who could gain access to media events.
The 8th Asean Summit, hosted by Cambodia for the first time, will be held first this morning, followed by Asean Plus Three, Asean Plus China, Asean Plus Japan, Asean Plus Korea and a first-ever Asean Plus India summit.
The meetings are Cambodia’s time to shine, and officials have taken no chances. Some markets have closed, streets have been cordoned off, and a prostitute pickup bar next door to the summit venue has been shut for “security reasons.”
An elaborate “pool” system arranged to allow only a certain number of media representatives enter select summit events enraged dozens of photographers, television crews and reporters who discovered on Sunday there were no more passes and they would not be given access.
“Local journalists and some foreign journalists don’t understand the pool system,” said Information Ministry Secretary of State Khieu Kanharith, who is personally overseeing the media center.
(Additional reporting by David Kihara and Bill Myers)
