Economic growth among APEC countries a challenge to anti-terror efforts — Defensor

Economic expansion and imbalances among members of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, as well as cultural diversity, continue to challenge efforts to dismantle terror groups in the region, the APEC Counter Terrorism Task Force (CTTF) said.

Addressing the fourth Secure Trade in the Asia-Pacific Region (STAR) conference in Hanoi recently, APEC-CTTF chairman Ambassador Benjamin Defensor said identifying hotspots, weak links and flash points for conflict is the third strategic challenge for member-economies in combating terrorism.

He said the November 2005 report by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council showed that overall, the region continues to experience stronger-than-expected gross domestic product growth with some mild inflationary trends. The region is also increasingly merging with South Asia, which promises more trade activities and exposure to risks at the same time, he said.

"Given the enlarged scope for cooperation on securing trade as well as containing threats to human security, APEC’s counter-terrorism efforts are bound to be overwhelmed by overlapping security demands," Defensor said. "At the same time the growing trans-Pacific economic imbalances, which could impact assistance from generous economies, will most likely leave developing economies with less effective CT (counter-terrorist) capacities."

Another strategic challenge faced by APEC in fighting terrorism, he said, is grasping the cultural dynamics of the region, "particularly the way members nurture and defend their lifestyles and faiths."

Defensor said one of APEC’s strengths is unity in diversity but that was not enough when cartoons of Islam’s prophet Mohammad, deemed blasphemous by Muslims, "underestimated the present sensitivities of our brother Muslims and produced a higher price tag for some economies."

"Unless our counter-terrorism efforts include a genuine consideration for the things that are held sacred by members, we will be blindsided by unprecedented events, and no level of disaster response or impact mitigation will suffice," he said.

He said the APEC-CTTF’s work plan included interfaith dialogue and cooperation, but the responsibility was moved to another group within the body.

"Even at APEC, we cannot ignore the strategic value of respecting cultures and traditions without losing some ground in the deeper, longer-term effort to address the causes of terrorism," Defensor said.

Identifying the possible hotspots, the weak links and flash points for conflict in the APEC region, is something that governments must work on, he said.

Defensor said the relatively weaker areas, based on economic resilience, are in Southeast Asia, but this is not to say the other regions, such as Northeast Asia, pose lesser threats.

"But the fact is: as the region prospers more with the vibrant progress of China and Japan, Korea, Australia and the United States, the economic divide widens for those in the southern fringes — with the exception of some economies," he said.

Defensor noted that "any informed strategy — whether political, economic or military — should therefore do well to consider the higher probabilities of the threats emanating from the less progressive economies on account of the pressures of globalization and resulting social conditions that tend to impoverish, rather empower, individuals and communities."

Addressing these three strategic challenges, he said, requires no less than a "whole-of-region approach" that incorporates everything that would conceivably work for APEC’s common goals.

Defensor said these include the all-important private-public sector partnership, which is important because some key private sectors — which have immense resources — actually still feel that security should be the prime responsibility of governments, whose resources, in contrast, are limited.

"As long as there is unwillingness by any sector to take this threat by the horns, we will be afflicted with blind spots as we address a central issue of our time, and this could be fatal," he said.

Defensor also proposed transforming APEC-CTTF from a task force to a security working group, run by a team of skilled practitioners in the diplomatic front and experts in security.

He said for the past three years, the APEC-CTTF has expanded its task of counterterrorism and human security measures "but for the next many, many years, terrorism, on account of its highly adaptive character, will continue to trump our cards, shift policy and destroy projections."

"Like unstudied wars before, it (terrorism) will remain a disruptive economic phenomenon, a radical political threat, and an insidious social affliction — unless a long term focused security group is established to continuously coordinate, evaluate and inform counterterrorism decisions and efforts undertaken in the region with the end in view of making the overall trade environment safer, stronger and better for all," Defensor said.