MALAYSIA CONCERNED OVER MILITARY DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA PACIFIC

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is concerned over the increasing
apprehensions and rivalry among major powers that are manifesting themselves in
rising military expenditures and the strengthening of military coalitions and
alliances.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhiyiddin said Tuesday this was another great
challenge to the comprehensive well-being, stability and peace, specifically in
the Asia Pacific region.

"Much of this is linked to responses to the shift in the balance of
strategic and economic power, from the West to the East, following upon the
economic resurgence of China and other countries in Asia," he said in his
keynote address at the 23rd Asia Pacific Roundtable here Tuesday.

Muhyiddin said the rivalry was unfortunately intruding into institutions
created for regional cooperation for mutual benefit and well-being and stressing
their effective functioning.

"I think it is of vital importance to regional peace and stability that the
countries concerned and the security community in general address this
development seriously," he said.

He said this was important because competitive military acquisitions and
defence strategies could lead to dangerous excesses and spark a spiral of
mutually provocative measures that could aggravate the situation.

Muhyiddin said several countries had in their official documents and
statements identified China as the reason for enhancing their military capacity
and strengthening alliances and defence cooperation with allies.

"They explicitly point to China's potential to challenge their position in
the region, its military expenditure, its alleged lack of transparency and its
increasing strategic presence and reach, as reasons why they have to take
precautions and respond.

"In my view, China is unlikely to be as powerful or as threatening as it is
sometimes depicted to be. Economic power is not going to be concentrated in
China as much as it was in the Unites States after the Second World War."

Therefore, he said, sustainable security could only be built by working with
one another, not against each other, and the Asia Pacific was a better place to
achieved this goal than many other regions.

"Defence alliances and security arrangements must be increasingly inclusive,
promoting common security and not exclusive, generating mutual hostility.

"We (Asia Pacific region) also have inclusive processes for security
cooperation such as the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) which can be further
developed and made more substantive," he said.

Muhyiddin said conflicting claims over territory and resources were best
addressed through peaceful negotiation or adjudication and it was good if joint
exploitation of resources could be considered, pending settlement of disputes,
where feasible.

Remnant insurgency, militancy and terrorism also became a great challenge in
the Asia Pacific region.

"The Malaysian government gives zero tolerance to terrorist acts. Perhaps
the Malaysian experience could be of some relevance to countering insurgencies
and terrorism not only in this region, but in other parts of the world too," he
added.

-- BERNAMA