The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has signed up in the war against terrorism. That is the key development from the annual meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, Asia's premier security institution, which convened last week in Brunei. The U.S.-ASEAN agreement was the most notable outcome of last week's conclave, but, as always, important talks took place on the periphery of the main meeting. Those discussions, both bilateral and multilateral, confirm the utility of ARF and the need for the continued pursuit of an institutionalized security dialogue in Asia.
This year's meeting was a critical one for ARF. Terrorism dominated the discussions. The focus was understandable, given the presence of U.S. troops helping to fight Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in the Philippines, and Malaysia and Singapore arresting alleged al-Qaeda-linked extremists accused of plotting bomb attacks. The U.S. declaration that Southeast Asia was "a second front" in the war against terror constituted an open challenge to Southeast Asian governments. A failure to respond on their part would have marginalized ASEAN governments in American eyes, as well as the ARF process that they have worked so hard to develop.
Cognizant of the stakes, ASEAN governments joined the U.S. in a Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism. The declaration commits ASEAN governments to share information, increase police cooperation and plug holes that extremists could exploit. In exchange, the U.S. has pledged technical and logistic aid. The U.S.-ASEAN agreement was the backbone of a pledge by ARF member governments to "block terrorists' access to our financial system." To do that, they agreed to freeze the assets of suspected terrorist groups "without delay." The agreement promises a range of cooperative efforts from freezing assets to creating "financial intelligence units."